Total Drama Unleashed
by I'mNotShortI'mFunsize
Summary: What's this? A brand new season of Total Drama is out! Follow all of the original cast along with Alejandro and Sierra as they are forced to undergo a whole new set of torturous tasks conjured up by television's most sinister host, Chris McLean! There will be romances, betrayals, friendships, and drama, Drama, DRAMA! Rated T for language and content. Please read and review.
1. Prologue

**This story takes place a few months after the events that happened on Total Drama World Tour. Everything that happened up to and including the finale of TDWT will have happened in this story. However, for the purpose of the plot, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island and Total Drama: All Stars never happened. Don't get me wrong, I like those seasons as much as the next fan, but for this plot to work, they can't have happened. Also, I am going to apologize for any OOCness from Heather beforehand, but you'll hopefully see why she's behaving the way she is in later chapters. I will try to keep every other character as spot-on as possible though. Wish me luck with that!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama; it is the property of Teletoon and Cartoon Network.**

* * *

"No."

The word rang out through the living room, bouncing off the walls and echoing down the hallway. The harshness and ferocity of the speaker's voice might have deterred most people, but then again, Chris McLean was not most people.

He had been arguing with the two adults for a good ten minutes, and they were beginning to regret the fact that they had begrudgingly allowed the wicked man into their home. The average-sized chamber seemed almost crowded, with seven people contained within the space, most seated on either one or the other of the two couches pressed against opposite walls.

Four individuals sat on an ebony leather couch pressed up against the back wall, and it was obvious at a glance that they were all related. A man appearing to be in his mid-forties sat in the center of the cushioned furniture. He was wearing a pair of beige khakis, a light lavender button up shirt, and had a baby blue sweater tied across his shoulders. The man, probably the father, was also sporting some rather thick-rimmed glasses. Sandy blonde hair was styled to the right of his features, and despite his extremely toned physique, the male appeared to be quite feminine. Currently, he sat rigidly against the cushion, his legs crossed as he glared over at the opposite couch.

Next to him sat a raven-haired beauty, her eyes tilted just enough to show off her Japanese heritage. Her lips, glistening slightly with a soft rose hue, were pulled down into a dark scowl. The mother seemed to almost glow in her pale yellow sundress, which accentuated her pale features quite nicely. A string of pearls encircled her neck, completing the appearance of perfection. Or rather, it would if she didn't have her arms crossed against her chest in an indignant fashion, and her charcoal eyes weren't shooting poisoned daggers at the Total Drama host.

On the woman's right, sat her eldest child; a woman with curled, sandy blonde hair like her father. A pair of navy blue jeans adorned her legs, held in place by a glittering sequined belt. A pale green crop-top hugged her chest tightly, showing off her toned figure. Almond-shaped eyes flashed behind her stylish glasses, and her lips were pursed in irritation. The daughter sat straight-backed on the end of the cushion, her palms clasped together in her lap. Every so often, the eldest would mutter darkly under her breath, though the words were always unintelligible.

On the opposite side of the couch, a young boy that seemed to be in his early teens was lazily stretched across the arm, one leg kicked up on the smooth material while the other swayed off the side. The youth was wearing a black t-shirt with a skull design on the front, with a long-sleeved gray turtleneck underneath. Olive green cargo pants hung loosely off his legs, just barely allowing pale toes to peak out from underneath the wrinkled material. The adolescent had onyx hair like his mother, as well as her tilted optics. Though he did get his hazel irises from the father, which were currently trained on a photo hanging in the corner of the room. Occasionally they would swivel to the man on the opposite couch, before stubbornly flicking back to the picture. Throughout the conversation, the son's hands had clutched tighter and tighter onto the dark leather of the couch, until his knuckles were white against his skin. It was quite obvious that the entire family had been on edge for some time.

The object of their intense hatred, was currently stretched out across another black leather couch pressed up against the opposite wall. Chris McLean was, for once, not decked out in his usual attire, but was instead sporting a plaid t-shirt with a white tee underneath, and some dark gray jeans. However, his long wavy locks were done up in his normal style. Fortunately, his ever-present sadistic smirk was surprisingly absent, only to be replaced by a rather exasperated expression. The Total Drama host sighed and lounged back against the cushions, scrutinizing the family darkly. A quick glance was exchanged with the well-dressed man next to him, presumably a lawyer, before he spoke in a rather bored tone, uttering the same words that he had stated at least thirty times since the conversation had started.

"You can say no all you want, she has a contract stating that she _has_ to attend, or I have legal permission to sue," he monotoned, shifting his gaze to the father. "And given how nice your home is, I'm not entirely opposed to the idea." Chris felt his lips quirk up into a mischievous grin, and he waggled his brows over at the family, "The money I'd get might even be better than her returning to the show."

The mother gritted her teeth and nearly growled over at the uninvited guest, "Circumstances have changed. She… she can't go back to that _horrid_ show. I won't allow it."

Chris cast a withering look at the woman, "Maybe if you would tell me what exactly these 'circumstances' are, then I would be more inclined to listen."

For the first time that day, the boy spoke, his words heated and laced with fury, "Shut up! Look, she can't go on your stupid fucking show. And no one is going to tell you why you asshole, so quit asking."

"Damien!" the mother spluttered, gasping at her son. "Watch your language!" It was quite rare for the teen to lose his temper, and even rarer for him to swear where his parents could hear, much less right in front of them. His father gave a startled jerk backward at the sudden animosity coming from the boy next to him, and even his sister leaned back to arch a brow at him.

"Well it's true! Chris McLame needs to give up and get lost. She's not going to go back on that show. Ever," Damien snarled, crossing his arms over his chest.

In a tempered drawl, his sister murmured, "I hate to admit it, but the twer- I mean Damien is right." Annette frowned across at the television show host, gracing the man with her level gaze. "You really should leave."

Chris chuckled wryly at the kid's outburst, finding his foul tongue quite amusing. Nevertheless, he was not a man to be put off by a little snappishness from two brats. "You know, I'd really like to know why Heather hasn't spoken at all. It's weird not having to listen to her complain and whine about whatever isn't going her way. Any thoughts, Heather?" he inquired in a wry tone, shifting his gaze over to the only person who was not currently sitting on one of the two couches.

As if a bomb had just been set off in the living room, an uncomfortable silence befell its inhabitants. Every single eye settled upon the middle child. Heather was currently sitting on a matching ebony leather armchair on the far side of the room. It was immediately apparent that she had changed somewhat since the disastrous finale of the last season of Total Drama. Her long onyx locks shown with a glossy sheen, and they had grown back down to the small of her back. A dark maroon hair tie had pulled her thick black curtains away from her face, keeping them in a low ponytail. However, that seemed to be the only positive note to touch on in the girl's appearance. Dark circles hung under her eyes, as if she hadn't had a decent nights rest in weeks. Her porcelain skin had also taken on an ashy tone, giving her an ethereal appearance. She had long since abandoned the revealing attires that she was used to, instead wearing a long forest green sweater and a pair of baggy black sweat pants. The former Queen Bee had yet to glance up from her petite hands, which were loosely clasped on her lap. Occasionally, she would twiddle her thumbs absentmindedly, before realizing what she was doing and still once more.

She didn't even lift her gaze when Chris had addressed her, though she did flinch her shoulders slightly at his sarcastic tone. Frowning, the host rose to his feet and before anyone could protest he began sauntering toward the silent girl. "Hello? Earth to Heather. We've been talking about you this entire time, and you haven't even said one word." Pausing next to her, Chris reached out a hand as if to grab her shoulder and muttered, "Yoo-hoo, Heather. Anyone home?"

Before the man had even come close to coming into contact with her shoulder, Heather jerked away from him as if burned. Frail hands began to tremble as she clenched them tighter, and she moved off of the chair to go sit down in the corner of the room.

The host only had a moment to register surprise, before the other occupants of the room finally came to their senses.

"Don't you _dare_ touch her you dirt bag!" Damien screamed, jumping off of the couch only to sprint over and stand protectively in front of his elder sister. A few months ago, the boy would have chewed off his own hand before defending his sibling, but as his mother had said, circumstances had changed. Moments later, the eldest sibling strolled over at a far more leisurely pace, taking a position next to her little brother and folding her arms across her chest skeptically.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Chris snapped, placing his hands on his hips and glaring daggers at the two children. "I mean damn, she's nineteen and acting like a five year old who's seen a ghost."

At this, the mother rose from the couch and strode over to her children, standing behind them and placing a hand on their shoulders. With a stern expression, she muttered, "I believe Annette is right, Mr. McLean. You have over-stayed your welcome, and it is time for you to leave."

Once more, Chris stubbornly refused to back down, "Listen Mrs. Wilson, your daughter signed a contract. Meaning that she is legally obligated to rejoin the cast and come back on the show. Her contract states that until she wins the million dollars, _and keeps it_, then I can bring her back whenever I want to until she is twenty-two years of age." With a triumphant grin, the man snapped his fingers. Immediately the silent lawyer came over and lifted a stack of paperwork from a chocolate hued briefcase. The host snatched the papers away and waved them smugly in the family's faces, "Ain't contracts great? If she refuses, then I can and will sue you for everything you own."

The mother felt her shoulders sag in defeat, and a soft sigh escaped her lips. However, no matter what this evil man said, she could not allow her daughter back on that show. "Fine. Sue. We'll… we'll figure something out," she snapped, though her words had lost a bit of their malevolent edge. "We'll get a lawyer."

Finally, the father moved to stand with the rest of his family, though he wore a troubled expression. Sharing a worried glance with his wife, the man bit his lip and stared back at his daughter. Heather had her brow furrowed, and she was biting her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Inhaling sharply, the man whispered, "Don't worry Heather-Feather, Poopsie will protect you. I promise."

For the first time, Heather lifted her gaze and met her father's eyes. She couldn't quite recall a time when he'd ever held so much love and compassion when looking at her. The girl had seen that expression occasionally when he'd looked at her brother or sister, but he'd never given such a look to her. Unfortunately, she could also quite clearly see the pain and worry hidden within his hazel pools. Since the fiasco on season two with Courtney, Total Drama had finally gotten much better lawyers to avoid further mishaps. If there was a lawsuit against the Wilson family, it was unlikely that her mother and father would be able to win the case. And it would be all her fault…

_You deserve whatever you get. It's all your fault, and you deserve whatever you get._

The words echoed through her mind, and she winced and began to quiver more forcefully. However, she could not put her family through that. They did not deserve to suffer so much for one of her mistakes. The old Heather would never have done what she was about to do, but circumstances have changed. Clenching her palms into trembling fists, the girl rose to her feet. Taking a few steps forward, she came even with her parents. Tentatively, she placed a hand on her mother's shoulder.

Startled, the woman stared wide-eyed at her daughter, "Heather…?"

Her grip tightened slightly on her mother's shoulder, and her lips compressed into a thin line. Heather's expression did not change any further, remaining utterly dead. However, the elder woman had become quite perceptive of her child's subtle movements in the last few months, and she shook her head worriedly. "Heather, are you sure? Really, you don't have to. I promise we'll get through whatever they throw at us. I don't know how, but we will."

Heather kept her gaze steady, and she gave an imperceptible nod of her head. Her family would not suffer for one of her mistakes.

_You deserve whatever you get._

Chris watched the entire exchange curiously, his head cocked to the side as his eyes followed Heather's actions. However, a relieved grin split his features as the mother finally uttered the words that he had been waiting to hear all day.

"Fine, she will go on your show."

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I am going to try to update this story often, but we'll see how that turns out… Be sure to tell me what you think in a review please. And ooh, what's wrong with Heather? Why is Chris such a total dick? Where am I going with this story? All these questions will hopefully be answered in future chapters to come!**


	2. Episode One: Welcome Back Losers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama; it is the property of Teletoon and Cartoon Network.**

* * *

_"Fine, she will go on your show," Heather's mother murmured, keeping her eyes trained on Heather's face. The woman was hoping to find some hint that her daughter would come to her senses and refuse to go on the show. After all, how could Heather bear to return for another season of Total Drama? Especially after what had happened. But alas, the teenager kept her charcoal orbs locked with the older woman's._

_Grimacing, Mrs. Wilson was the first to break eye contact by turning over to the host of the show. Barely able to cloak the venom in her voice, she spat, "However, I will insist that some changes be made to my daughter's contract."_

_With a smirk, Chris replied, "Tell you what, let me know what you want to change, and I'll think abou-" but his words were cut off by a snappish comment from the young boy standing protectively in front of Heather._

_"What?! You can't be serious mom!" Damien was glaring wide-eyed at his mother. Hesitantly, the boy felt his gaze soften as he glanced back to stare at his sister. At one time, Damien had loathed his sister, and he would enjoy doing everything in his power to make her life miserable. But after the incident… she was just so broken; so lost. And it was all because of the God damned show. He couldn't stand the thought of anything else happening to his sibling. "Heather… please don't go back to that show. Please." Clenching his fists, the youth felt his gaze drop to the carpet and he whispered, "I don't want you to get hurt anymore."_

_Biting her lip, Heather inched forward and held out a palm as if she was going to smooth back her brother's hair, but at the last moment she felt her fingers beginning to tremble and her arm quickly collapsed to her side._

_"Aww, isn't this touching," Chris sneered, his beady eyes following the interactions between the siblings. "Listen, I have somewhere else to be, so you better say whatever it is you have to say about Heather's contract quickly. Otherwise I'm just going to leave."_

_"Very well," Mrs. Wilson growled, crossing her pale arms over her chest and shifting her stance just enough that she appeared to be looming over the television show host, even though she was a few inches shorter. It was obvious where Heather got some of her intimidating traits from. "Firstly, Heather will not be required to talk on your show. And she can't be… eliminated for lack of using her voice."_

_Chris arched a brow curiously, "And why would I allow for that? No talking is boring. Plus, just because she's giving me the silent treatment today, doesn't mean I want her to do it on my show. That will definitely lower the ratings, as Heather is one of the most popular contestants the show's ever had." He cackled wickedly and directed a very pointed look at the aforementioned teen, "Everyone just loves to hate you."_

_Before the mother could reply, the eldest sibling spoke up, "She can't talk. Heather hasn't said a word to anyone for months. Her psychologist says it's some form of PTSD, and she has to snap out of it on her own." When the entire family turned to glare in disbelief at Annette, she merely shrugged, "I don't really care to listen to mom and him argue over it for twenty minutes. We all know that in the end he'd hear about it somehow. Besides…" she lowered her voice slightly and cast an apologetic look towards her younger sister, "I didn't say a word that would reveal anything."_

_Shaking his head darkly, Mr. Wilson turned to Chris and sighed, "If you want Heather-Feather on your show, then you will just have to deal with her temporary muteness."_

_"Fine, deal. Anything else?" Chris snapped, annoyed that he had been pretty much forced into accepting one of their terms._

_"Heather will not be required to partake in any challenge that would force her to be alone. No solitary confinement or anything else that your twisted mind can think up," Mr. Wilson continued, her eyes practically daring the host to argue._

_"And Heather won't have to see any of the other contestants until the show is actually starting," Annette piped up. "Someone will be allowed to drive her to wherever it is that you're filming it." Although that seemed like such a feeble demand, Annette knew that her sister would not want to face those awful people until she absolutely had to._

_Chris was beginning to grow quite frustrated. He had to have Heather on his show, but the demands that these people were making were ridiculous. After a brief chat with his lawyer however, the man practically snarled, "Whatever. I'll allow one more change, and that's it. SO you better decide wisely."_

_For quite some time, the family somberly tried to come up with one last addition for the contract. There were so many things that they wanted to do for Heather. As the thought, the girl in question moved forward to stand with her family. Each of them wore a mixed expression of despair, worry, and regret._

_Finally, Damien announced the final term, his eyes tearing up as he stared at his sister. Yes, at one point he did hate her, but now he only wanted to keep her safe. "We'll be allowed to write letters to Heather while she's on the show, and she can have them as soon as they arrive." With that, he rushed forward to encircle his arms about her waist, causing Heather to yelp and stiffen. The boy knew how she felt about being touched, and her feelings were entirely justified, but he couldn't help himself. Within moments, Heather found herself in the middle of a group hug._

_She didn't relax until they finally released her from their grasp._

* * *

Heather peered out of the window of her mother's silver Bentley, her cool gray orbs following the sparse foliage as they drove down the highway. It had been two weeks since Chris first showed up at the Wilsons' doorstep, and today would be the first day of shooting the new series, which Chris had dubbed Total Drama Unleashed.

Thus far the drive had been silent, though with only two people in the car and one of them mute, that wasn't really a surprise. Before they'd left, Heather had exchanged a tearful goodbye with her father and siblings. She honestly couldn't believe that she would actually miss them, but then again, they had certainly changed. Not that she was exactly the same old Heather herself.

This line of thought was becoming dangerously close to a topic that she avoided thinking about as if it was the plague, so the girl shook her head and turned about so that she was looking at her mother. Mrs. Wilson had her eyes locked on the road ahead, and her lips were compressed into a very thin line. The woman's knuckles were white against her flesh where she gripped the wheel. The tension in the air was so thick a chainsaw couldn't cut it.

When the mother noticed that she had her daughter's attention, she forced a strained smile onto her features and murmured, "Don't worry Heather dear, I promise that nothing will happen to you." Hesitantly, she continued, "And… you know, if it's too awful for you, well… you could always attempt to be voted off first." With a sharp intake of breath, the mother muttered, "If you did, then you would not have to be with those horrible people any longer than necessary."

Silently, Heather shook her head. While she did love the woman, sometimes her mother did not always analyze the situation critically enough. This idea had certainly already occurred to Heather, but there were a couple problems with this plan. The first, was that even if she was voted off first, Heather would not be allowed to return home. She would be stuck at the Playa de Losers for the rest of the season. And being voted off first would mean that she would be left there all alone. The very thought caused a tremble to shoot up her spine.

The rest of the drive was made in silence. After about half an hour, the car finally pulled into a small parking lot that was placed next to the beach. Both ladies got out of the car, and the mother went to the trunk to pull out Heather's beige suitcases. With bags in hand, the pair strolled over to a large wooden dock where a lean white vessel was waiting. Holding the wheel of the boat was the infamous Chef Hatchet, Chris McLean's right hand man.

The cook bared his teeth at the two women, causing Heather to flinch back into her mother. The woman made a vexed sound in her throat and glared up at the large man. "Don't worry Heather dear, I will be with you the entire way. Mr. McLean at least allowed for that," she murmured, placing a palm on her daughter's shoulder. The moment the two of them boarded the small ship, Chef started the motor and began to speed away from the main land.

There was about twenty minutes to go before they arrived at the place that started it all, Camp Wawanakwa. For some unknown reason, Chris wanted to get back to the basics. Of course, he had assured the contestants plenty that the challenges would be far more suicidal this go around, which wasn't exactly comforting news. While they waited, Mrs. Wilson stood next to her daughter on the railing, gently brushing her fingers through the teen's long hair.

"Well, at least your hair has grown back out, hmm Heather?" she murmured in an attempt to sooth her daughter's nerves. Obviously, it wasn't working very well as Heather's shoulders were trembling. Frowning, the woman gently placed a hand on her child's cheek. Heather's first reaction was to jerk away from the touch, though after a moment she allowed the contact. "Heather… if you want, we can still go back home, honey. We'll get a lawyer, and I promise everything will be okay."

The girl dropped her eyes to the floor, unable to stop the tears that began to trickle down her cheeks. Truthfully, she was terrified of being back in this awful place. Heather wanted more than anything to listen to her mother and return to the safety of her own home. Without warning, she tightly wrapped her arms around her mother, burying her features into the woman's shoulder. After a moment of startled surprise, Mrs. Wilson carefully enveloped her daughter in a hug, smoothing her fingers through Heather's ebony locks. The mother gently made soothing sounds as she did so, feeling her own eyes begin to sting with the formation of tears.

"Shhh, it's alright Heather. It's okay. You're safe, I promise," she murmured.

"Y'all got five minutes 'till we arrive at the dock," barked Chef, trying to avoid looking at the duo. Even the ex-corporal found Heather's new attitude a little disturbing.

In response to the sudden announcement, Heather clutched onto her mother more tightly. She wasn't ready to face the game again. She wasn't ready to see all of those horrible people that were the other contestants. And she especially wasn't ready to risk her life day in and day out just to satisfy Chris's sick fetish for ratings. This was when the girl began to hyperventilate into her mother's chest, who was wearily trying to calm down her daughter.

"Sweetheart, please calm down. Honey, do you want the entire world to see you like this? Come on Heather, it's alright. Shhh," Mrs. Wilson mumbled, rubbing her hand in comforting circles against the girl's back. When the teen had finally grasped some form of self-control, the mother smiled optimistically, "There now, that's better."

Pulling her daughter into one last hug, she whispered, "Remember Heather, I love you." When the two broke apart, Heather hastily dried her eyes.

When she finally summed up the courage, Heather shifted her gaze over to the Dock of Shame. Obviously, Chris was there giving his long opening monologue. Next to him, stood another nine of the original cast. Though it was difficult to tell at this distance, Heather thought she could make out Duncan, LeShawna, Bridgette, Cody, Owen, Trent, Sadie, Katie, and Beth. They all appeared to be talking amongst themselves in little groups, excluding Duncan who was standing off to the side and twirling his knife menacingly.

A glint of metal caught her eye, and Heather actually pursed her lips at a beat up piece of scrap that was standing next to Chris. It looked like a robot of some sort. Probably just something that Chris thought up to torment them somehow. Shaking her head, Heather turned to her mother to avoid having to look at any of her cast mates. The woman smiled reassuringly and squeezed Heather's hand, "You'll be okay."

Finally the boat moved close enough to the dock that the other's voices could be heard over the motor of the boat. Beth had just happened to notice Heather on the boat with her mother, and called everyone else's attention to the duo. All conversation stopped as nearly everyone there glared daggers at Heather. The girl could feel all eyes examining her, and she visibly trembled. She was certainly glad that she'd abandoned her signature outfit, and was instead wearing some long blue jeans, an over-large red sweater, and some black heels. Suddenly her mother tensed next to her, and Heather knew that she was giving all of the other contestants a look of pure hatred.

Eventually, someone spoke, though what they had to say wasn't exactly the first thing a person would want to hear at their arrival. "What's the matter Heather, do you need mommy's help to win the challenges since everyone hates you now?" Duncan jeered. This caused a malicious laugh to overtake the grouping. Even Owen chuckled. Heather merely kept her eyes downcast and gave her mother's hand one last squeeze.

"Heather, nice of you to join us," Chris commented, smirking over at her. "Hey guys, let's make sure to give Heather a nice warm welcome."

Chef carelessly tossed her suitcases over the side of the boat, one of which rolled over the land near LeShawna's feet. "Oops," she drawled, kicking the bag into the water. The Queen Bee didn't say a word, and a quick glance exchanged with her mother kept the older woman from defending her daughter. Instead, she simply climbed off the boat began to walk over to the group. As she passed by Chris, the robot that was standing next to him inched forward just enough to trip Heather, sending her crashing into the dock. A piercing beep emitted from the contraption, and a chorus of wicked cackling met Heather's ears.

_You deserve what you get. It's all your fault, and you deserve what you get._

The words forced their way to the forefront of her mind, and Heather bit her lip to keep from crying out. Rising to her feet, she brushed the dirt off her jeans and went to stand with the others. They all glowered at her, save Cody who was just trying to avoid catching her eye. He was probably the only person who didn't loathe her. Something pressed into her back, and she gasped before jerking away from the group.

It still felt as if something was touching her even when she'd moved away from the little gathering. A feeble whimper slipped through her lips, though thankfully it was soft enough that the others didn't appear to take notice. Though they were still staring at her ruthlessly. Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

_You deserve what you get._

"What's the matter Heather, not gonna whine about your bag or even attempt a comeback? Man, you've really lost your touch," Duncan cracked, grinning over at LeShawna. Well, the two seemed to have worked out some sort of truce in their mutual hatred of Heather.

Ignoring this, Heather leaned over the edge of the dock and scooped her suitcase out of the water. This was going to be a long season.

* * *

Eventually, the rest of the campers arrived. Much like in the first season, Chris led them to the campfire pit to give them his monologue about the marshmallows and the voting ceremony. Apparently, this season the winning team would be allowed to watch the losing team vote someone off if they wanted to.

He also divided the twenty-four contestants into two different teams. For some reason Heather couldn't fathom, the robot, which Chris kept referring to as the "Drama-Bot", was a contestant this season. He said it was because Alejandro couldn't make it at the moment, to which the others obviously complained. After all, why did he get to avoid being here despite his contract?

The first team was called the Deadly Dingos, and it consisted of Gwen, Geoff, DJ, Sadie, Katie, Izzy, Noah, Cody, Sierra, Lindsay, Eva, and Harold. Their team color was pumpkin orange.

The second team was dubbed the Vicious Vipers, and its members were Duncan, LeShawna, Bridgette, Tyler, Trent, Owen, Ezekiel, Beth, Courtney, Justin, Heather, and the Drama-Bot. Their team color was forest green.

It wasn't much of a surprise when pretty much every person there began to complain. Actually, it was a little difficult to make out what everyone was saying when they were all screaming at once.

"There is no way that I'm bein' on the same team as Heather _again_," LeShawna snapped.

"What?! You can't separate me and Bridge man! That's like, totally bogus!" Geoff exclaimed, with Bridgette nodding vigorously at his side.

"Chris, if you put me on the same team as Duncan or that Boyfriend-Stealer, then I am going to have my lawyers sue you," Courtney snapped.

"Hey, this ain't no picnic for me either Princess," Duncan retorted.

Gwen frowned over at Courtney and then sighed at Duncan, "Just promise me that you won't pull another Trent and try to lose for me?"

"Hey!" Trent cried, "I said I was sorry for that."

Tyler and Beth were each pulling on one of Lindsay's arms, who was staring about in bewilderment.

"Dude, Lindsay has to be on the same team as me, she's my girlfriend!" said Tyler. "Let me switch teams."

"No let _me_ switch teams, I'm Lindsay's best friend!" Beth whined, digging her shoes into the soil to get a better grip on the blonde ditz.

"Eeeee! Codykins and I are on the same team again!" Sierra squealed, enveloping Cody in a bone-crushing hug. The poor boy was flailing his hands wildly at Chris, signaling the host that they needed to be separated immediately.

Katie and Sadie were just jumping about and holding each other, squealing to their heart's content.

"Aww, I'm not on the same team with Izzy?" whined Owen, pouting over at Izzy whom was currently poking Noah repeatedly in his cheek.

"…I'll switch teams with you Owen. I'd rather not have to deal with Crazy girl here," Noah monotoned.

Heather sat on one of the wooden logs used as seats and watched the scene unfold in silence. It didn't really matter what team she was on, since they all hated her anyways. Plus, she wasn't planning on being on the show long enough for her team mates to irritate her. Surprisingly, DJ came over and lowered himself to the bench next to the Queen Bee.

Offering her a hesitant smile, he muttered, "Uhh… hey Heather. It's kinda weird not seeing you, y'know, acting all mean and yelling at everyone." The large man chuckled weakly, though that quickly died when Heather didn't bother to lift her gaze from the soil. "So uhh, listen. I just wanted to thank you for when you tried to keep me on the show last season. I know it was just so you could form an alliance with me, but I still appreciate it." He frowned at her, "And no, that's not an invitation to form an alliance this season." When Heather still didn't respond, DJ gave her a concerned look and mumbled, "Are you alrigh-"

"Enough!" Chris yelled, placing his hands over his ears. "No one will be switching teams. And that is final! You all know where the cabins are, so you can go find them and unpack yourselves. Vipers on the right, Dingos on the left." The host turned around and began to stomp away from the annoying teens, calling over his shoulder, "Meet me in front of your cabins in twenty minutes."

Although none of the teens were satisfied, they all just grumbled sourly and began to head back to the cabins. It was probably one of the most awkward moments of the series, and the cameras weren't even rolling. Courtney walked ahead of Duncan and Gwen, completely ignoring them. Duncan kept teasing Courtney and had his arm slung over the goth girl's shoulder, while Gwen herself just stared sullenly at the ground. Geoff and Bridgette were making out as they walked, which meant they were constantly tripping over things like twigs and rocks. Probably just trying to get in as much sucking face as they could before they had to separate for their respective teams. Trent was frowning over at Gwen and trying to get her attention. Lindsay had one arm around Tyler's neck, and another around Beth's, while the two of them scowled at each other behind her back. Sierra was carrying Cody like an infant, who was attempting to get Noah and Owen to save him. And to top it all off, LeShawna was casting seething looks at Heather every five seconds.

The Japanese girl simply tried to keep her eyes down, and avoid looking at anyone. Somehow, she ended up walking next to Izzy, who kept reaching over to Heather and yanking on her hair as if to confirm that it was indeed real. Each time the psychotic red head did this, Heather would yelp and bite her lip. However, she did not move away. Those wretched words kept playing in her head, in _his_ voice.

_You deserve what you get._

* * *

Eventually, the teens arrived at the cabins, with around fifteen minutes before they had to be ready for the next challenge. They all made their goodbyes and split off into four groups to check out the cabins: Viper Girls, Viper Boys (and the Drama-Bot), Dingo Girls, and Dingo boys.

Upon arriving in the cabin, Heather wasn't surprised to find that it was exactly the same as when she'd last seen it. She could even see the stain where Lindsay had spilled her toenail polish on the floor back in season one. Well, at least they'd dusted the place. Each team had an odd number of girls on it, so more than likely there would be one girl that got her own bunk bed. Heather was positive that she knew which girl it would be on her team. With a sigh, she stalked over to the bed that was furthest from the door and set her suitcases next to it. Unfortunately, one of them was still damp so she wasn't about to place them on the bed.

One by one, each of the girls chose a bed so that Courtney had the top bunk over Bridgette, and Beth had the top bunk over LeShawna. They all began to engage in conversation, while simultaneously giving Heather the cold shoulder. Once or twice Bridgette would glance at Heather as if wanting to bring her into the conversation, but she would simply sigh and turn back to the others.

"Man, I can't believe I got roped back into doin' another one of these. I thought my contract was supposed to expire when I was eighteen, not twenty two!" said LeShawna, placing her suitcases under her bed.

"No kidding, I don't know why we should be forced to do this even though we're adults," Bridgette sighed.

Courtney sniffed and shook her head, "Probably because Chris will want us to do a season when we're twenty one. I guess drunk contestants makes for good ratings." Her voice had a bit of venom to it.

"Well, you certainly won't catch me drinking on national television," Beth huffed, folding her arms, "I mean, what would Brady think?"

Bridgette gave a pleasantly surprised smile, "You're still going out with him? That's great Beth!"

"Yea, I think he might be the one," the dorky girl murmured, blushing slightly.

"Just make sure you keep an eye on him Beth. And don't let him near that Boyfriend-Kisser, or she'll steal him away," Courtney growled.

"Nah, Brady isn't like that."

"Girl, you're still upset about that? Listen Courtney, I think what Gwen did was wrong too, but I still don't know if you should waste your time holdin' a grudge," LeShawna reasoned, giving the former C.I.T. a sympathetic look.

The overachiever snorted derisively, "Oh come on, like you're not still holding a grudge against Alejandro. You and Bridgette, that is."

"And you're not?" all three girls remarked.

"I only fell for his tricks because I was upset at the Boyfriend-Stealer and Duncan… plus I might have wanted to make Duncan jealous a bit. I just wasn't as focused as I usually am," replied Courtney.

Heather pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her head in her hands as the conversation droned on and on. She didn't really want to think about Alejandro. Every time he entered her mind, it was like a knife was being plunged into her heart. When one million dollars was on the line, she'd been able to delude herself into believing that he was another pawn to be used. However, she hadn't won the money. After the finale, Heather had thought long and hard on her feelings towards the Spaniard for weeks. And she really hated the conclusion that she'd come to. It was all Ezekiel's fault.

_You deserve what you get. It's all your fault, and you deserve what you get._

No, it wasn't his fault. It was her own. She made the choice.

Thinking of Zeke almost made Heather want to laugh. It was a major shock to everyone when the prairie boy had stepped off of the boat, only to be back to his old, sexist, ignorant self. Chris had explained that due to the threat of a lawsuit from Home-school's parents, he'd been forced to pay for Zeke to have extensive physical and mental therapy to get him back to normal. The pair of them had completely switched places. Since now Heather was the one that was having a complete breakdown. Zeke was using his terrible approach to slang, and Heather couldn't even force herself to speak at all. Irony at its best.

Suddenly, a loud blow-horn sounded throughout the camp, startling Heather from her thoughts. The others growled curses as they stalked through the door, with Heather meekly following suit. All the campers met up in front of Chris, separating into their teams. Excluding Bridgette and Geoff, who raced over to each other and stood together with his arm draped over her waist. Well, at least they weren't sucking face.

"Welcome campers, it's time for your first challenge. If you will please follow me we're going to pay tribute to our very first challenge of Total Drama ever!" exclaimed Chris, holding his arms dramatically up in the air. This earned a groan from the majority of the contestants, as well as a few eye-rolls.

"So, what, you're going to make us jump off the cliff again?" drawled Courtney. "Wow, how original."

"I guess it is for you Princess, since you never actually even jumped the first time," said Duncan dryly. Courtney just turned up her nose at him.

Harold glanced around, before frowning at Chris, "Hey Chris, if we're going to be jumping into the water, then shouldn't we have put on our swim suits?"

"You'll see when you get there," Chris retorted, giving them all a knowing smirk.

* * *

Upon reaching the pinnacle of the cliff, many of the teens were out of breath. And a few appeared to be having flashbacks to the first time they were forced to take the plunge into the icy waters below. One thing was sure though, no one was looking forward to today's challenge.

"Well campers, if you'll remember back to the very first episode, the challenge was to take a dive off of this cliff you see behind me. Ah, the good old times," Chris sighed, as if reminiscing about these "good old times." Walking over to the cliff, the host picked up two harnesses, one in green and the other in orange. And they were attached to bungee cords. Suddenly, Heather had a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"I know not all of you were there, but last season we had a challenge in Australia where the contestants had to bungee jump off a cliff and try to grab a sheep." He grinned maliciously, "Today, you will be bungee jumping off this cliff, and trying to grab a flag on a pole from the waters below. And don't worry, the poles are color-coded. So if you grab another team's flag, they get the point. The first team to get all of their poles wins an advantage in the next challenge." Then, Chris chuckled, causing all of the contestants to inwardly groan. Nothing ever good came about when the host laughed, "And by the way, some of the poles are, let's just say, 'trickier' than others."

After a quick pause to let all this sink in, Chris continued, "One person from each team may volunteer to opt out of this part, but that person will be doing the majority of the work on the next part of the challenge. So choose wisely. And, one you've got that all sorted out, choose your order, then let me know when you're ready."

The two teams began to argue amongst themselves, trying to decide which member would get to sit out.

On the Dingo's side, Noah spoke, "I'll sit out. I'd rather not have to bungee jump off of a one thousand foot high cliff, even if it means I have to do most of the work in the next challenge." The Indian boy arched a brow over at the host, "I doubt it's worse than this."

Meanwhile, on the Viper's side, Ezekiel was grinning like an idiot, "Yo yo dawg, I got this, eh. I can totally rock the next challenge if you let me sit out now. 'Sides, wouldn't want to have to make one of the ladies do it later, eh?"

"Sexist pig," Courtney snapped. Indeed, all the girls were glaring at the prairie boy. Well, except for Heather, who kept her gaze trained on the grass. Obviously, she was terrified of the challenge, but Heather didn't really care to argue with anyone anymore. Just do what needed to be done, and hope you don't die in the process.

"I dunno, why don't we give the little nerd a chance. After all, do you honestly think he'd be of any use in this challenge?" Duncan drawled. Probably only arguing just to get under Courtney's skin.

"In any case," Courtney continued, as if Duncan had never spoken, "next challenge is the elimination challenge. Do we really want to rely on Ezekiel for the elimination challenge?"

"Aww c'mon yo, give me a chance, eh. I promise I'll bring us an easy win," Zeke whined.

Eventually, it was decided that Noah would sit out for the Deadly Dingos, and their jump order would be Geoff, DJ, Lindsay, Sadie, Katie, Izzy, Gwen, Eva, Sierra, Cody, and then Harold. Likewise, Zeke was going to sit out for the Vicious Vipers, and their jump order would be Tyler, LeShawna, Bridgette, Duncan, Trent, Beth, Courtney, Heather, Justin, Owen, and then the Drama-Bot.

"Alrighty then, Geoff, Tyler, get yourselves strapped in dudes. This is gonna be fun," said Chris, rubbing his hands together.

Geoff managed to get the orange harness secured over his body first, and he winked back at Bridgette, "Wish me luck babe!" With that, the party boy jumped off of the cliff. Closing his eyes, Geoff screamed all the way down. It was too late when he finally remembered that he was supposed to be grabbing flags, and he opened his eyes just in time to spot one. However, before he could reach for it, the cord yanked him back up the cliff.

On the way up, Geoff passed by the athlete on his way down. Apparently, Tyler had finally managed to buckle the green harness on. Luckily, the accident-prone teen did remember the flags, and so he already had his eye on one when he reached the water.

"Yes!" he cried when his fingers clamped on the emerald pole. However, the entire thing was coated in some gooey substance, and Tyler's hands slipped right off when he was yanked up to the cliff. While Geoff was taking off the harness, Tyler stared down at his hands and then up to the host, "What gives man? I had the pole in my hands, and then it just slipped right out!"

"I told you some of the poles were trickier than others. It looks like you found the one that was covered in baby oil," Chris replied with a smirk.

"Baby oil?" Tyler repeated, sniffing his fingers. "Aww, gross."

"Tyler! Quit messing around and take off the harness! DJ is almost ready to dive!" Courtney shouted, pointing over at the other team where DJ was indeed almost finished doing up his straps.

"Crap, uh, just a second!" Tyler replied, hastily trying to take off the harness. Which proved to be incredibly difficult due to his slick fingers.

While the athlete was busy, DJ was peering over the edge of the cliff and whimpering, "Man, I didn't do this the first time, and I really don't want to do it this time."

"Sorry dude, no chickening out this time. And your team can't advance until you go, so if you refuse, then you'll cost your team the challenge," Chris retorted.

"You can do it Donny!" Lindsay called, smiling and waving at DJ. Suddenly, the rest of the Deadly Dingos were shouting out encouragement to the big Teddy Bear, trying to get him to jump. Taking a deep breath, DJ stepped off of the cliff.

"Mama!" he cried, flailing about as he fell. A few moments later, LeShawna was hurtling down next to him, and they both reached the water at nearly the same time. DJ and LeShawna each managed to latch onto a pole, and luckily this time neither was covered in baby oil. When they reached the cliff, LeShawna immediately began undoing her straps while DJ curled into a fetal position.

"That's two points for the Vicious Vipers, only eight more flags to go guys," Chris yelled.

"What!?" Eva snarled, "How can they possibly have two points!"

Smirking, Chris replied, "Might wanna take a closer look at the flag your team mate snagged."

It was true, DJ had brought back a green pole with a Viper flag attached. This caused the Vipers to cheer while the Dingos groaned and glared at DJ. "Lindsay and Bridgette, you're up next," Chris called.

Finally snapping to his senses, the gentle giant began undoing his straps and gave an apologetic look to his team, "Sorry guys."

Bridgette took her dive for the Vipers, but unfortunately she came up empty handed.

When Lindsay had finally managed up put the harness on correctly (it took her three tries), she jumped off the cliff with a cheerful squeal. When she reached the bottom, the ditzy blonde grabbed an orange pole that was coated in some sort of powder. A puff of the stuff hit her face as she went hurtling upward, but luckily for the Dingos, the girl had managed to grab the correct pole.

"The score is now two for the Vipers and one for the Dingos, and it's still anyone's game!" Chris exclaimed.

Lindsay was quick enough to get out of the harness, but as she did so she was constantly scratching her hands and her cheeks. "Um, Chip, how come my hands are all itchy and stuff?"

Laughter erupted from the host, and he began to clutch his sides, "Oh man, I was waiting for someone to get that one. Lindsay, you're pole was coated in itching powder!"

Duncan, whom had already made his decent, suddenly returned to the top of the cliff. And he was exceedingly charred. Luckily for the Vipers, he did indeed have a green pole in his hand. "Oh my gosh! What happened to you?!" Gwen cried, running over to Duncan and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, go back to your own team Boyfriend-Stealer!" Courtney growled, though the goth girl simply ignored her.

Coughing, Duncan glared over at Chris, "My fucking pole electrocuted me."

"Serves you right you two-timer," the former C.I.T. snapped.

"The score is now three to one, with the Vipers in the lead!" Chris yelled, fighting to hold back his laughter at the site of Duncan.

Sadie and Trent dived at pretty much the same time, and unfortunately both came up empty-handed. Well, not completely empty. Trent's hands were now covered in baby oil as well. That pole would probably need a few more swipes before all of the goo was off of it.

Beth managed to get her harness on a few moments before Katie, and thus she was the first one off of the cliff. The short girl actually managed to grip one of the green poles, but with a yell she tried to let go. Unfortunately for Beth, it seemed as if the pole didn't want to let go of her. When she reached the top, Beth winced as she examined the pole she'd brought back. It was wrapped in barbed wire.

"Sss, ooh, that's gotta hurt girl," LeShawna said sympathetically. "Here, let me help you out of that harness."

"Chris! That's against the rules!" snarled Eva.

With a shrug, Chris replied, "I'll allow it, her hands are scratched up pretty badly. And with Beth's pole, that makes the score four to one with the Vipers in the lead. Oh wait a second, four to two actually." The host changed his statement as Katie flew back up onto the cliff, an orange pole clutched in her hands. "Huh, guess she's one of the lucky few to get one of my non-booby trapped poles," he muttered.

"Haha! Here goes Explosive-o!" yelled Izzy, launching over the side of the cliff.

"Uhh… did she just jump without the cord?" inquired Trent after a few moments of silence.

"Holy ham and cheese, Izzy!" cried Owen, flocking over to the edge. A loud boom was heard from below, and suddenly the psychotic red head flew back over the cliff to land in a nearby tree. With an orange pole in her hand.

"Izzy, what happened?" asked Owen, staring up at the girl.

"Oh, haha, Explosive-o hit the water and grabbed a pole. But there was a bomb under the water, and Explosive-o thought it would be fun to blow it up! So Explosive-o his it with the pole. And then Explosive-o rode the blast back up to the top. Fun right?" Izzy yelled, doing a back flip off the tree to land in front of Owen. "Now there is a ringing noise in Explosive-o's ears!"

Courtney and Gwen were both just about buckled in. The moment Courtney was finished with her straps, she ran over to Gwen (who had just clicked the last piece into place), and shoved her off the cliff. The goth girl yelled as she hurtled toward the water, and the overachiever screamed over the edge, "I've been waiting to do that for months you goth bitch!" And with that, she jumped off the edge herself.

During the fall, Courtney actually managed to catch up and surpass Gwen. The C.I.T. latched onto the first green pole she found, and a puff of white powder covered her cheeks as she began to launch back toward the top. On her way up, Courtney "accidently" allowed her pole to smack into Gwen's face, covering her in the powder as well. And simultaneously knocking the goth girl out cold.

The C.I.T. was soon out of her harness, as well as constantly itching her face. It was worth getting the itching powder pole to give the Boyfriend-Stealer what she deserved though. When Gwen finally came back up to land on the cliff, she was still unconscious.

"What the hell happened to her?" Duncan barked, glaring at Courtney.

"How should I know? Maybe she hit her head on a rock on the way back up," the hispanic girl said innocently.

Groggily, Gwen began to come to, clutching her head and moaning miserably. "Ugh… my head. Where am I? And why am I itchy?"

"The score is now five to three, with the Vipers still in the lead," Chris called. "Dingos, I'll allow it if someone needs to help Gwen out of her harness, she seems pretty out of it."

"Out of my way!" Eva growled, racing over to Gwen and practically ripping the harness off of the poor girl. Within moments, she was diving off of the cliff, shouting obscenities the entire way down.

Heather was now up for the Vicious Vipers, and she silently made her way over to the harness. After strapping herself in, she warily stared over the edge of the cliff. From what she could tell, Eva was already at the bottom, and had actually grabbed a pole. And by the way she was convulsing, Heather would probably be correct in assuming it was a pole that would electrocute whomever touched it.

"If you even think about not jumpin' you slimy little tooth pick, I'll come over there and just throw you over again," LeShawna hollered, scowling darkly at the Japanese girl. Inhaling deeply, Heather allowed herself to just fall off the cliff. She did not scream as she plummeted through the air, though the constant wind whipping against her face did cause tears to form in her eyes. She was breathing heavily now, terror and adrenaline coursing through her veins as she came closer and closer to the water. Everything was a blur, and Heather was finding it difficult to tell up from down. Something green caught her eye, and she desperately reached for it. Her fingers clasped around something slick, though she clutched whatever it was for dear life.

And then Heather was being yanked upwards, shooting through the air like a rocket. Something solid slammed into her body, and she whimpered at how rough the surface was. The surface. Cracking an eye open, Heather found that she was back up on the cliff. For a moment she saw double of everything, but then the world came back into focus. Peering down at her hand, she saw that it was holding onto a green pole coated in a sticky substance. So, she had gotten the baby oil pole.

Silently, the woman began to undo the buckles on her harness, doing her best to undo the material with fingers that constantly wanted to slide off of the metal. There, she was out, and now Justin was strutting over to her. Numbly, Heather handed the model the harness, before walking over to the side near a bush.

In the background, she heard Chris say, ""Six to four, and the Vipers still have a two point lead. Can the Dingos ever catch up?" The moment Heather reached the bush, she began to empty the contents of her stomach. Which unfortunately wasn't much, since Heather never had an appetite anymore. Therefore she was left dry heaving for the next six minutes, and whenever she thought she might be finished, the stench of her own vomit caused a whole new round to start. Finally, she managed to crawl away from the disgusting pool. After a few deep breaths of clean air, the Queen Bee began to feel a bit better.

When she finally made her way back over to her team, Justin, Owen, Sierra, Cody, and Harold had all gone, and the score was seven to six, with the Vicious Vipers still in the lead. And the Deadly Dingos were restarting their order, while Duncan and Trent tried to get the Drama-Bot strapped in.

"It's good enough. And if the robot breaks who cares, it's not like it's much use to us anyways," Duncan said, rolling his eyes. With that, he aimed a sharp kick at the back of the Drama-Bot, sending it flying over the edge of the cliff. The contraption was constantly beeping as it plummeted to the water, only to fail in snagging any of the poles. As the machine slammed into the cliff, the strain was too much and scraps of metal and springs went everywhere. When the smoke finally cleared, what lay within the wreckage was enough to make everyone, including Heather, gasp.

Unconscious on the ground, huddling within the mess, was Alejandro. He had an uneven stubble growing, his clothes were ripped, and his hair was greasy and clung to his features. But it was him, and he was breathing.

"What the hell is goin' on around here?" cried LeShawna, staring in disbelief at the tattered Spaniard.

"Surprise!" Chris said, albeit weakly, "Heh, that wasn't supposed to happen until later in the season, but I guess the cat's out of the bag now."

"More like the hunk is out of the robot," Courtney muttered, before catching herself and clearing her throat. "I mean, uhh… so, Alejandro is on our team then?"

"Yep, though I doubt he'll be much use at the moment. I think that blast knocked him out cold," Chris replied, walking over to the Spaniard and pulling back one of his eyelids.

Heather couldn't believe what she was seeing. The boy that had caused her so much strife and sorrow and confusion and… and… he was here. Her charcoal gray orbs fell to the soil, and she refused to even glance in his direction. That would have to be sorted out later.

Suddenly, both Geoff and Tyler appeared over the cliffs edge, and they were both holding onto a pole in their team's respective colors. This seemed to snap everyone back to the task at hand: winning the challenge.

"Alright, the score is now eight to seven, with the Deadly Dingos trailing by one," Chris yelled.

Person after person took their turn, though everyone seemed to be coming up empty handed. Now that there was only three Dingo flags and two Viper flags, it was becoming more and more difficult to aim the jump correctly so that the person would land near them.

Finally, it was Duncan's turn to bungee jump for the Vipers, and Izzy's turn for the Dingos. This time, Izzy actually remembered to put her harness on, and both jumped at nearly the same time. Everyone held their breath as they waited for the two contestants to reappear. Suddenly, a red and green blur came into view. It was Izzy, and she had retrieved a Dingo flag!

"The teams are now tied at eight," Chris remarked.

Suddenly, Duncan came hurtling over the cliff, landing with a low thud. In one hand, he was holding a green pole that looked to be horribly charred, and in the other hand, he was clutching a green pole that had barbed wire coiled around it.

"Well, in a shocking turn of events, the Vipers have one the first challenge!" Chris exclaimed, causing the entire team to begin jumping around and cheering loudly.

"What? No fair, he cheated!" Eva raged, looking as if she was about to spit fire.

Smirking, Chris replied, "I never actually said that you could only grab one pole at a time."

Gasping, Gwen raced over to her boyfriend and gingerly removed the spiked pole form his hand, which was dripping red streamers of blood. "Oh my gosh, Duncan! Are you alright?" she murmured, tossing aside the blackened pole.

Wincing, he growled, "Hell no. First I grab a fistful of barbed wire, and then I get electrocuted _again_." Clutching his bleeding hand to his chest, he scowled over at Chris, "Can I get some medical attention over here?"

With a laugh, Chris replied, "Sure, but all the supplies are back in the camp. And you have two options to get there: walk or swim."

Groaning, the beat up cast began to wearily turn around and head back down the cliff. A few were limping, and many were wincing with every step. After all, the bungee cord had placed quite a bit of strain on their bodies when they'd jumped, even with the harness. And of course, DJ was carrying Alejandro, who was still unconscious.

* * *

Once everyone's wounds had been tended to, Chris forced them all to walk over to the area where the mud skiing challenge had been held the first season. Upon their arrival, the campers noticed that all of the flags they'd collected were set up around the mud pit. That is to say, there were ten Vicious Viper flags, and eight Deadly Dingo flags.

"Alrighty campers, now it's time to have the elimination challenge. Most of you can just sit down and enjoy the show, but two of you are going to have to compete. Noah and Ezekiel, since the two of you decided to sit out last challenge, you will be the only ones competing in this challenge," Chris stated, grinning malevolently at the pair of them.

To this, Noah merely rolled his eyes and muttered, "Whoop-de-doo."

And Ezekiel punched his fist into the air and cried, "Bring it on yo! I'm gonna win this challenge for my team, eh."

With a smirk, Chris pointed over to the side, where Chef was sitting in his helicopter from the previous season. "Here's the deal, you guys are going to be hung from a rope by your ankles attached to my helicopter. Chef is going to navigate through the course, and it will be your job to grab as many flags as you can while hanging upside down. The person with the most flags at the end wins the challenge for his team. Since the Vicious Vipers won the last challenge, they get more flags on the course and therefore better odds of winning."

"…That is absolutely ridiculous," muttered Noah, who was seriously wishing that he hadn't sat out earlier.

"Glad you think so. Noah, since your team lost last challenge, you will get to go first and set the pace for the Vipers," said Chris, gesturing toward the helicopter. "Chef will be over there to assist you in getting strapped in nice and tight. Wouldn't want you to slip and fall down into the mud."

With a sigh, the Indian boy replied, "Oh joy," before sauntering over to the helicopter. Heather watched as Chef forced the teen to lie flat on his back while he wrapped some sort of blue straps around his legs again and again. When the cook finally pulled away and stalked toward the cockpit of the helicopter, Noah looked like his lower half was wrapped in a cocoon.

Suddenly, the machine's propellers began to twirl, and the helicopter lifted into the air, dragging the genius along with it. For a moment, Noah simply hung there upside down, a bored expression etched across his features. His dark brown hair swayed with the ropes movements, cascading away from his scalp in a chocolate waterfall. The sight was so absurd that a couple of the other contestants began giggling childishly.

When Chef arrived at the beginning of the course, Chris gave him a thumbs up, and then the challenge had begun. Noah was inching closer and closer to the first flag. Just as he was about to grasp it, Chef swerved the helicopter to the right, causing the flimsy material to slip through the bookworm's fingertips. This caused a cacophony of angry shouts to erupt from the Deadly Dingos.

"Hey man, what gives Chris? Noah totally had that and Chef made him miss!" Geoff complained, crossing his arms at the host.

Laughing, Chris kept his eyes on the bookworm whom had just missed his second flag thanks to Chef, and was now swaying wildly through the air. "Yea, I told Chef that he could do whatever he wanted to up there, as long as he stayed on the course. Makes it more interesting."

Timing seemed to be in Noah's favor as he reached the third flag, and the brainiac yanked the orange fabric from the pole. He was also lined up perfectly for the fourth flag, and soon the Dingos had two points. Growing impatient, Chris muttered something into a radio that probably went up to Chef. Moments later, Noah was being twirled around in a wide arch, spinning faster and faster with the helicopters movements. Heather winced as the Indian boy's tanned complexion took on a sickly greenish hue. And then the contents of Noah's stomach were being rained over the course. Which, in turn, made Lindsay race over to a nearby shrub and proceed to vomit whatever she'd eaten that day.

The course was almost completed when the rope Noah was swinging from finally began to calm. In the end, he had managed to capture a total of four flags. Not very impressive when the Vicious Vipers had ten forest green triangles flapping against emerald poles stuck into the mud. The entire team groaned when Noah was unstrapped and made his way over to them on wobbling legs.

"Gosh, nice goin' Noah. You basically just lost us the competition!" huffed Harold, giving the sarcastic teen a look of contempt.

Pressing a palm against his forehead, the know-it-all retorted, "I'd like to see you do it any better."

"Alright, the Deadly Dingos managed to capture four flags. Vipers, I'd say that gives you pretty good odds in beating them. Ezekiel, head over to the helicopter so Chef can strap you in," said Chris.

An idiotic grin stretched across the prairie boy's face from ear to ear, and he gave his team a thumbs up as he strutted over to where Chef was waiting. "Yo, I totally got this dawgs. Watch me bust some mad moves and get all ten flags, eh." Just as he was about to reach the ex-corporal, Home-school stepped on his own shoelace and tumbled end over end until Chef stopped him with a well-aimed kick. Zeke was tied up as quickly as possible, and soon enough the challenge started with Chef navigating through the course.

The rope had yet to begin swaying when Ezekiel came to the first flag. Unfortunately at the last moment, a powerful gust of wind set Zeke off course, and he smacked face first into the flag pole. This earned a collective "ouch" from the campers as they watched the prairie boy slump downward, completely unconscious. After this, Chef didn't even try to swerve about or pull any tricky maneuvers. Ezekiel merely swung limply by each flag, knocked out cold. At the very end, the kid became aware long enough to snag the very last flag. Needless to say, the Vipers were seething.

After the poor teen made his way over to the group, he was rubbing his head and groggily asked, "Did we win?"

"No, we most certainly did _not_ win, and it's all your fault!" Courtney snarled, digging her fingers into Zeke's jacket and shaking him viciously. "I knew this would happen! I knew someone else should have done this challenge! But did any of you listen to me? Nooooo. You'd rather listen to Duncan!"

Smirking, Chris turned to face the camera and drawled, "There you have it folks, Deadly Dingos win! Vipers, I'll see you at the campfire ceremony tonight."

The prairie boy was trying desperately to shove Courtney off of him, and eventually she just through him down into the mud. "Hey! It's not my fault, eh. Chef's the one who drives like a girl, yo!" he whined, trying to defend himself.

"Oh no you di-in't," snapped LeShawna, shaking her head at him. "That's it, girls I think Home-school needs to be taught a lesson." The majority of the female contestants, Vipers and Dingos alike, crowded around the boy. As a group, they inched over toward the mud pit with Ezekiel crying out and flailing in their midst. When the girls finally dispersed, Zeke was hanging from the top of one of the flag poles by his underwear.

Heather watched the entire scene unfold from a distance, her cool gray orbs hesitating on Zeke's strung up body for a moment, before falling to the ground. Even through her meek demeanor, the Queen Bee couldn't help but think he deserved it. And not entirely because of his sexist remarks. A tiny part of her still envied the boy his recovery from being a feral beast, despite many attempts to clear such emotions from her mind. A soft sigh slipped through her lips, and she wearily began to head back toward the camp without waiting for the others.

Her solitude was short-lived however, as the rest of the campers quickly followed suit. Dingos and Vipers alike seemed to be in a fairly good mood, probably because of the actions taken against Zeke. The Japanese girl could still hear the idiot screaming demands to be let down, which probably wouldn't happen until the campfire ceremony took place.

She was broken from her thoughts when a hand clapped her on the shoulder, and Heather tensed up immediately. Her muscles became stiff as a statue when the hand did not remove itself, and suddenly a voice spoke up next to her.

"So, why didn't you help out all the other girls with Zeke, Heather? I would have thought that you'd really enjoy doing something like that, heh," Cody muttered, revealing a gap-toothed smile to the Queen Bee. When Heather remained stone still and did not respond, the sweet-lover's grin faltered and he weakly removed his fingers from her shoulder. "Uhh, sorry. I was just trying to be friendly…"

Dropping her gaze, Heather shook her head and sped up to get away from the boy. She could still feel his fingers pressing against her skin, leaving slimy trails of grime on her person. Clenching her eyes shut, the teen trembled violently. She felt filthy, and in dire need of a shower. Hopefully some warm running water would be enough to cleanse her of the filth that had spawned from being touched. But… not alone. Another shudder rippled over her spine at the thought of being by herself, defenseless, in a shower. Who would go with her though? Beneath her curtain of ebony locks, Heather examined the females on her team. Perhaps she would just have to wait until another of them left for the showers. She was even desperate enough to go with LeShawna. Anything to keep her from feeling so utterly dirty.

Upon reached the cabin, Heather swiftly moved over to one of her suitcases and pulled out a couple of pale white towels, along with a clean change of clothes. Her ears pricked as other voices entered the cabin, and from the corner of her eye she watched her team mates filter through the door. Suddenly, Heather cringed as her name was called by one of the last people she ever wanted to speak to.

"Hey Heather, why didn't you join in when we dished out some sweet justice to Zeke. I would have thought you'd have gotten a kick out of stringing his scrawny ass up a flag pole," said LeShawna, arching a brow at the Queen Bee.

Beth snorted and shook her head at Heather, "She probably just didn't want to break one of her perfectly manicured nails."

"Speaking of personal hygiene, I think Heather has the right idea. I'm going to go take a shower to try and get some of this darn itching powder off," muttered Courtney, whom was still scratching at her puffy cheeks. At this, the Japanese girl heaved a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn't have to wait.

Once Courtney had gathered the necessary items needed, the pair of them set off at a slow pace for the communal bathrooms. It was rather awkward, given that there was about five feet of space between them, and for the majority of the journey neither said a word. Eventually Courtney did find something to say though, "So… I know we aren't on the best of terms, but you could at least attempt to say something to someone rather than giving everyone the silent treatment. I don't think I've seen you speak one word to anyone since I arrived." The former C.I.T. peeked at Heather through the corner of her eye, "And I know I'm not the first person to speak to you. Both Cody and DJ attempted to engage you in some sort of conversation. So what gives?" The Hispanic girl paused for a few minutes to offer Heather a chance to say something, though soon enough it became apparent that she planned to remain mute. "Honestly, I'm a little surprised you're not trying to rope me into forming an alliance with you right now. That's kind of your deal."

Eventually, Courtney's words trailed away and she gave a vexed look to Heather. Well, if she wanted to keep her mouth shut, then who was Courtney to try to stop her? The rest of the trip was made in silence, and it was a relief when they finally came to the showers. Luckily, none of the Dingo girls had thought to take a shower yet. Not even Lindsay, whom was still probably scratching herself just as fiercely as Courtney was. Courtney was quick to jump into a stall, and Heather followed suit with the one next to it.

Closing her eyes, the Queen Bee stripped down and started the water running. It came out in short bursts, icy enough to set Heather's teeth chattering. Luckily, after a few minutes the water became somewhat lukewarm. Vigorously, she began scrubbing her body with a wash cloth covered in soap until her skin was raw and red. Finally, she couldn't feel his filthy hands touching her. Sitting down in the corner of the shower, Heather allowed the tepid water to splatter against her back as she placed her head in her hands. It was moments like these when she could let her walls come down, if only for a moment. Her shoulders relaxed slightly, and the teen sighed into her arms. Only a few more weeks of this to go at the most, and within a couple months she would be back home with her family. That was the moment she was looking forward to more than anything else this summer.

The sound of the shower in the next stall being turned off quickly broke Heather out of her reverie, and she hastened to do the same. The last thing that the Queen Bee wanted was to be left alone in the showers. After getting dressed in a pair of light blue jeans and an emerald t-shirt, Heather stepped out of the shower. Moments later, Courtney emerged in her own signature attire. The two exchanged a quick glance, before Heather looked away from the overachiever.

Walking over to the foggy mirror, Heather wiped a palm against the reflective surface and began to brush out her hair. Her strokes were slow and gentle, carefully separating each strand and calmly working out any knots that had formed. The Queen Bee was so pleased to have her real hair back that she always enjoyed the times when she could tend to her ebony locks. Quite the opposite of the Hispanic girl, whom was currently forcing the bristles of her comb through her wavy brown hair.

Grimacing, Courtney glanced over at Heather and muttered, "I don't know why you let your hair grow back out that long. I can't stand dealing with mine, and it only comes to my shoulders."

Turning her head slightly so she could examine the former C.I.T, Heather sighed and walked over to Courtney. Hesitantly, she held out her hand and fixed the other girl with what she hoped was a sincere expression. When Courtney paused to stare at Heather oddly, she flicked her eyes over to the comb in Courtney's hand, and then back to her face. Pursing her lips, Courtney said, "Heather, there is no way I'm letting you get near my hair. Especially after season two when you tried to cut it off."

Heather merely twitched her fingers, remaining where she was and canting her head at the other teen. Eventually, Courtney just rolled her eyes and placed the comb in Heather's hand, mumbling something along the lines of, "If you ruin my hair, then I'll sue you…" before proceeding to pull out some eyeliner and applying it to her lids.

Pale lips twitched up at the corners, and Heather moved to stand behind Courtney. As gingerly as she could, Heather pulled back a handful of Courtney's hair and softly brought the comb through the strands. At first, Courtney would wince whenever she felt the Japanese girl reach a knot, though Heather's deft fingers always worked through the stubborn locks without causing even the slightest bit of pain. Even when Courtney had finished applying her makeup, she patiently waited for Heather to finish with her hair.

Finally, Heather pulled away and placed the comb back on the counter. Courtney slid her fingers through her mocha locks as if trying to find something that Heather had done wrong. When nothing became apparent, she gave the Queen Bee a queer look and mumbled, "Uhh, thanks Heather." Frowning slightly, the Hispanic girl glanced at the door before turning back to Heather, "Are you going to do your makeup now? If you want I can wait…" Shaking her head, Heather placed her towel and her clothes under her arm, and the pair of them walked back to the cabin in silence. And though Heather hadn't said a word, the once cruel teen had given Courtney quite a bit to think about.

* * *

Twelve contestants sat in front of the campfire, with Chris standing on the opposite end and holding a platter of marshmallows. A few yards away, all of the Deadly Dingos were enjoying the ceremony on a set of stands that Chris had dubbed the "peanut gallery", after the popular bit on Total Drama Aftermath. Grinning, the host began to speak, "So guys, what happened? You were doing so good in the first challenge." At this, nearly every member of the Vipers turned to glare at Zeke, who was holding his crotch due to the fact that he'd only been let down from the flag pole minutes before.

"With that said, you can all head over to the confessional and pick who you want to go home tonight," Chris continued cheerfully, pointing over at the outhouse. The Vicious Vipers all lined up in front of the wooden bathroom, and one by one they filed in to cast their votes.

After Bridgette exited the stench filled confessional, Heather made her way into the disgusting room. In front of her were photos of all twelve team members, as well as a red marker and a box to place the votes in. Curiously, she noted that the box was made of steel this time around, and had at five different locks on it. Well, she supposed that would have been Courtney's doing, due to how she had been unjustly voted off by Harold in the first season. Somberly, the Queen Bee gazed at the pictures, contemplating on who she would want to vote off. When she'd arrived, Heather had been planning on voting LeShawna out every time, no matter what. Especially after the loud mouth had kicked her suitcase into the lake. However, after being back on this wretched show for a day, Heather wanted more than anything to go home. Thus, she was seriously considering placing the red cross mark over her own photo. But then, that would mean that she'd have to suffer through a few solitary weeks at the Playa do Losers. Eventually, Heather just made a slash across Ezekiel's picture. All things considered, he was the one who fairly deserved to be voted off.

Before exiting the stall, Heather paused to grasp Alejandro's picture in her hands, gently touching her index finger to his face. The Spaniard wasn't actually present at this ceremony, since he'd suffered a concussion when the Drama-Bot had exploded. Chris had stated that he was fine otherwise, but they didn't want to risk giving the man any brain damage in removing him from the medical tents, which could possibly result in a lawsuit. The Queen Bee's heart longed for the smooth talking manipulator. With a slight frown, she carefully returned the photo to its previous position, and reached over to a pile of pictures in the corner to replace the one she'd used of Zeke. This was their sole requirement in voting ceremonies, since they couldn't allow the other contestants to see who they'd voted for.

Upon exiting the stall, Heather quietly went back to her seat while Trent went in the outhouse to cast the last vote of the night. One the guitar player had returned to his seat, the host of the show cleared his throat.

"Vicious Vipers, you have cast your votes. Remember, the person who does not receive a marshmallow must go to the Dock of Shame, exit on the Boat of Losers, and they can never come back. Ever," said Chris, adding extra emphasis on the final word. This caused a few eye rolls, as Chris never kept his word on that part.

"First up, is Owen, followed by Alejandro, who sadly can't be with us tonight. Therefore, Owen can have both," started Chris, tossing the two pillows of fluffy goodness over to the obese blonde, who caught them in his mouth.

"Next is LeShawna, Beth, Justin, Trent, and Tyler," continued the host, handing out each player's respective marshmallow.

With another throw, Chris had given out two more beacons of safety, "Bridgette and Duncan, you two are also safe."

"The rest of you, I'm pleased to say, received votes," drawled Chris, smirking at the remaining three Vipers.

"What?!" snarled Courtney, glaring indignantly at the other Vipers. "Someone voted for me?! Oh, I bet it was you, wasn't it Duncan. You jerk."

Heather didn't even bother to peek up at her team mates. She could practically feel LeShawna's eyes burning a hole into the back of her head. It seemed as if the black girl wanted the Queen Bee gone as soon as possible, even if she'd done nothing to cost them the challenge. Well, Heather couldn't exactly begrudge her that, after all the horrible things she'd said and done to the woman in previous seasons.

Zeke didn't even bother to say anything in protest, though Heather thought she heard him mumbling something repeatedly under his breath. It sounded like, "Please not again. Please not again. Please not again…"

"And the person going home tonight is…" Chris began, before pausing for dramatic effect. "Ezekiel!"

"Aww no, again? Some team, eh. I try my hardest to win, and this is how you guys repay me? Can't a homie catch a break?" Zeke whined, pouting over at the rest of the Vipers.

Bridgette frowned over at him, "Not when you constantly insult women."

"And when you cost us the entire challenge," Justin added, winking at himself in a mirror. "Besides, without you, our team will officially be the hotter team. That's an opportunity I just can't pass up."

Chef picked up the prairie kid and tossed him over his shoulder, "And this time so you stay away from the game and don't turn into some creepy little rat boy, we're sending you straight home." The cook tossed Zeke into the back of a beat up old boat, which immediately began to speed off.

"Good riddance," Chris said, chuckling over at the dock. Turning to the camera, he began to give his end of the show segment, promising even more drama and challenges, and reminding the audience to "tune in next time".

At that, the teams began to disperse. A few couples broke away to go spend some quality time together, while the rest headed off to the mess hall to eat whatever slop Chef decided to serve as dinner that night.

Heather simply walked her tray through the line, and held out her plate when she reached the cook. What she received in return was some half-cooked noodles with tomato juice squirted over the top. When the girl tentatively poked it to make sure that it wasn't moving, she noted that the "spaghetti" was cold to the touch. Sighing, she walked over to the Viper table and took a seat at the end of the bench. Heather could feel the others giving her dirty looks while they talked amongst themselves. Even when she wasn't speaking, it seemed that Heather still managed to get on their hit lists.

Eventually, Courtney strolled over and sat next to her, though she didn't even bother to say one word to the Queen Bee. It was odd, but in the bathroom perhaps they had come to some sort of… friendship? No, that was too strong a word. Hell, even acquaintance was too strong a word. But they did seem to have a silent agreement worked out. Heather didn't speak to anyone, and Courtney would casually draw the conversation in a different direction whenever anyone mentioned the Japanese teen.

When the majority of the campers had either finished their food or given it to Owen for lack of wanting to eat it (usually it was the latter), they began to head back toward the cabins. Soon enough the girl's side of the Vicious Vipers cabin was full of pajama clad teens. Heather had long since traded in her white baby tee and pink short shorts as pajamas, and was instead wearing violet and black plaid pajama bottoms with a dark blue t-shirt. While the other girls continued to talk about how they day had gone and the other contestants, the Queen Bee rifled through her suitcases.

Finally Heather found what she was searching for, and she withdrew a zip lock plastic bag filled with earplugs. The teen frowned at the little baggy for quite some time, contemplating on whether or not she really wanted to hand them out. After all, she had no real reason to do these people any favors. They all treated her horribly. But then again, not doing anything would result in even more hatred directed toward her. With a sigh, she hopped off her bed and hesitantly went over to each of the other four girls and handed them a pair of earplugs. This caused them all to glare at her. Well, excluding Courtney who just quirked a brow at the Japanese teen.

"Is there a particular reason you're handin' out earplugs you witch?" inquired LeShawna, peering down at the pieces of plastic as if they were poisonous.

"Probably so we won't hear it if she tries to strangle one of us in our sleep," replied Beth, tossing the earplugs out the window. LeShawna and Bridgette shared a look, before repeating Beth's actions. In the end, Courtney was the only one to hold onto Heather's "gift", tucking the little things into her pocket.

Shrugging, the Queen Bee curled up on her bed and allowed her eyes to slide shut. She really wanted to fall asleep before the other girls decided to turn off the lights. Darkness and Heather… weren't exactly on the best of terms anymore. Sighing into her lumpy pillow, the girl willed the other voices to quiet down into a dull drone in the background. They were only one day into the season, and Heather was already sick of this place. The final thought Heather had before she drifted off to sleep was of her longing for home…

* * *

**Wow… so, that was longer than I thought it would be. According to my word document, this chapter takes up twenty-eight pages. So, here's a question for you guys: do you want me to break up the chapters more? Originally, I was planning on doing one episode per chapter, but if they're all going to be this long, I'm not so sure. Do you prefer longer chapters?**

**Also, I decided that I wasn't going to show confessionals throughout the episode or at the voting ceremony excluding Heather's. Would you like me to? I just feel that it breaks up the flow a little bit. And it would give away a lot at the end. But I can always add in some other confessionals if you prefer.**

**How do you think the chapter went? Were the challenges interesting at all? Did I bore you with them? Should I cut anything out or add something in? Do you think everyone (except Heather) was in character? I know that a lot of the contestants didn't play major roles here, but I promise that everyone will get a bit of the spot light eventually. Even characters that I don't really care for.**

**And look! Alejandro is finally in the picture. We didn't get to see very much of him in this chapter, but he will be playing a major role later on. And yes, just to make sure you're all aware, this is an AleHeather pairing. I'm sorry if you don't really care for that one, but it is my OTP.**

**I think I'm going to write this story mostly in third-person limited based on Heather's perspective, excluding challenges where the two teams are separated. There are probably going to be a few glimmers of other character's thoughts, but for the most part it will be all Heather. Any opinions on that?**

**Gah, sorry this is a long Author's Note. As always, read and review please! I've given you plenty here to work with, all you gotta do is answer my questions. ;)**


	3. Episode Two: In Pole Position

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama; it is the property of Teletoon and Cartoon Network.**

* * *

_"What! I don't love you. I lov-"Heather felt her eyes widen as she pressed her fingers to her cheeks. Startled gasps overcame the watchers, and the Japanese girl immediately attempted to cover up her Freudian slip. "Err… hate. I meant I hate you." But it was already too late._

_Gently, the Spaniard cupped her cheek in his palm, and Heather's heart fluttered with longing. She lifted fearful eyes to meet his face, gazing into his deep emerald pools. The unbreakable walls of ice she'd built up over the years were beginning to melt away, and no, not because of the volcano. Her pale cheeks flushed as he spoke in that smooth Latin purr. The teen couldn't make out the words he was saying; all she could hear was the steady beating of her heart. When he grasped her upper arms, the tempo increased, threatening to burst out of her chest. Was Alejandro really speaking the truth? Heather yearned for him, and she wanted so desperately to believe the man. Could it be possible that he reciprocated her feelings?_

_A tiny smile graced her features, and she leaned closer to the male, her grip tightening against his chest. "Wow. I suppose I might actually feel, a little something…" she whispered._

_Suddenly, a chorus of cruel laughter washed over her ears, and she ripped her gaze away from Alejandro for just one moment to stare at the spectators. The other contestants were pointing at her and jeering. Then they began to grow, towering over her and the Spaniard. Their teeth elongated into pointed fangs, and their eyes dilated to yellow slits. On they laughed, shouting taunts and insults at the Queen Bee._

_"She's just a frightened little girl!"_

_"I knew you were worthless."_

_"You're such a pathetic loser."_

_"You'll never do anything right."_

_Terrified of the sudden turn of events, Heather whipped her eyes back to Alejandro, hoping that he knew what was happening. But the Arch-Villain had a sadistic smirk stretched over his features, and his beautiful jade orbs had hardened and were glinting mercilessly. The Spaniard suddenly pushed her back, and Heather fell over the rim of the volcano. Desperately, she reached out and caught the ledge, clinging for dear life as she narrowly avoided falling into the lake of bubbling magma._

_And then Alejandro was standing over her, cackling wickedly at her predicament. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes as she cried, "Please Alejandro, help me! I love you!"_

_The man leaned down so that he was inches from her face, and his fingers caressed her cheek softly. "Oh Heather, you truly are an even bigger idiot than I thought. No one could ever love a fat, ugly, stupid bitch such as you," he replied. The fire from the volcano below reflected back against his eyes as he leaned down to press his lips against her ear. The next words that slipped through his lips caused a chill to tingle up Heather's spine. But, they were not in the seductive voice of the Spaniard that she had come to love. They were in a dark, sinister tone. One that she could never forget._

_"You deserve what you get. It's all your fault, and you deserve what you get."_

_The sole of a leather boot came crashing down onto her fingers, and with a yelp Heather released her lifeline. Downwards she plummeted, the heat blazing against her back as she fell closer and closer to the boiling lake. And then she was submerged, and Heather screamed as loudly as she could. The pain was unbearable, spiraling out from her abdomen to flare into every inch of her flesh. Agony bled through her veins as she was being burned alive. She was-_

"Heather!"

With a gasp, the Japanese girl jerked backward, slamming back against the cabin wall. The teen peered about wildly, her chest heaving with the terror of the nightmare that had just consumed her being. Sweat peppered her frame, though she felt cold and clammy, as if she'd been sitting in a dark cave for hours.

Eventually, Heather began to calm down enough to notice that she was not alone. All four of the other Viper girls were standing around her bed, their eyes locked on the Queen Bee. Courtney had a hand outstretched, as if she'd been trying to wake Heather up. The former C.I.T. wore a concerned expression, and her brows were furrowed downward. Bridgette stood just behind the Hispanic girl, worry laced into her features. A bit further back, stood LeShawna and Beth, though they appeared to be more annoyed than anything else.

"Girl, what the hell is wrong with you! It's three in the damn morning, and I need to get some beauty sleep in before I have to deal with whatever Chris throws at us today," growled LeShawna, folding her arms over at Heather.

Courtney shot the black girl a harsh look for a moment, before turning back to the frightened teen. "Heather? Are you okay?" she murmured, placing a knee on the bed so she could come closer to the Japanese girl. But the moment Courtney inched toward her, Heather flinched and pressed against the back wall as tightly as she could.

"Yea, you've been screaming bloody murder for the last five minutes. I thought someone was being stabbed or something," the surfer girl muttered.

"If this is some sort of strategy, I am so not in the mood Heather," mumbled Beth, rubbing her fist against her eyes. "It's too early for any mind games."

The sudden onslaught of voices was too much for the Queen Bee to handle after the nightmare she'd just had, so she buried her head into her hands and began to sob hysterically. This caused the others to blink in surprise, before glancing at each other awkwardly. It wasn't a very common sight to see a person completely lose it, especially if that someone was Heather.

Gingerly, Courtney and Bridgette clambered up onto the bed, sitting cross legged on either side of the bawling teen. When the former C.I.T. tentatively reached out and placed a hand on Heather's shoulder, the Japanese girl jerked away and shook her head. The last thing she wanted was someone touching her at the moment.

And then, something clicked for the Hispanic girl, and she gasped loudly. Startled, Bridgette leaned forward to arch a brow at Courtney, who was now staring down at Heather as if she was seeing her for the first time. "Heather…" the girl hesitantly ventured, "is this why you gave all of us those earplugs earlier? Did… did you know this was going to happen?"

Although she had gotten her breathing under control, a steady stream of tears were still cascading down her cheeks when Heather nervously nodded her head. At this, Bridgette frowned and risked a glance at the Japanese teen, "Hang on a second. How could you have known you were going to have a nightmare?"

A very pregnant silence was the response as realization suddenly dawned on the other four Viper girls. Eventually, it was Courtney who asked the question that was on the forefront of everyone's mind. "Heather… does this happen every night?" The teen in question lifted a blood-shot gray orb to lock eyes with the former C.I.T, before her gaze flickered back toward her hands.

No one knew what to say after that. And even though LeShawna and Beth pitied the teen, that didn't mean they wanted to go and comfort her either. Plus, there was barely enough room on the mattress for three girls, let alone five. After giving Heather one last look of sympathy, the two simply went back to their beds to try to get a few more hours of sleep.

This left Courtney and Bridgette sitting awkwardly on either side of Heather, who was now just staring forward with an utterly lost expression on her face. Truthfully, the Queen Bee just wished that the two would leave her alone to wallow in her own misfortune. After all, she deserved it. Eventually, Heather turned to peer up at the surfer girl, giving her a deadpan look. The blonde quickly got the hint, and after sharing a meaningful glance with the former C.I.T, she bid Heather goodnight and sauntered back to her own bed.

Not wanting to disturb the others, Courtney kept her voice to a whisper when she addressed the Queen Bee, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Heather shook her head.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Another shake of the head.

By now, Courtney wasn't exactly sure what she could do. Obviously she wasn't going to leave the Japanese girl alone, despite what said Asian teen might desire. However, if Heather wasn't going to say anything, then remaining would be utterly pointless. Sighing, Courtney brought her knees up to her chest and mimicked Heather, leaning her chin on her leg. The two sat in silence for quite some time, though oddly enough it didn't feel strained or even awkward. Usually, Courtney would have loved to see the Queen Bee so out of it, but instead she just felt sorry for the other girl.

When the tears eventually subsided, Heather reached out a quivering hand to place it on top of Courtney's own. This startled the Hispanic girl, and she lifted her ebony orbs to lock eyes with the other teen. "Heather… what happened to you? You just seem so…" Courtney trailed off for a moment, the word "broken" still tingling on the edge of her tongue. After a few seconds, she concluded her statement by adding, "Different."

Once more, Heather just shook her head. She didn't want to think, let alone talk about the event. Every time the slightest remembrance graced her thoughts, she wanted to burst into tears.

"How long has this been going on for? Your nightmares, I mean," inquired Courtney, tightening her grip around Heather's digits. Honestly, it felt weird being the one to comfort Heather, as Courtney wasn't used to helping anyone but herself. If she were to stop and think about it though, she and Heather were quite a bit alike. Both were intelligent, pretty, and willing to do whatever it took to get what they wanted. Heather just used more sinister means to achieve her goals. Or rather, she used to.

At first, the Queen Bee was just going to ignore the former C.I.T's question. But as the silence lengthened, Heather began to feel guilty. Here Courtney was, just trying to comfort her after she'd had her wits scared out of her, and Heather was just pushing her away. Had she even changed at all? Gulping, she swiveled her eyes so that she was staring directly at Courtney. After a moment, Heather inclined her head slightly towards the other girl.

This just confused the Hispanic girl though, and she frowned, her brows knitting together in frustration. She supposed that Heather had a good reason for not talking, but the silence was beginning to grate on Courtney's nerves. Was she supposed to guess?

"A few days?"

Silence.

"Weeks?"

More silence.

"Months?"

Courtney felt Heather squeeze her fingers lightly, and the former C.I.T. felt her eyes widen in horror. "_Months?" _she muttered incredulously, "You've been having nightmares every night for _months_?" Petite shoulders sagged, and Heather nodded her head weakly. Suddenly, the Asian teen found herself enveloped in a tight embrace, and she stiffened visibly. Courtney had her arms wrapped around the emaciated girl, and her chin was resting on her shoulder. "Heather… I am so sorry," she whispered, her tone full of sympathy.

When Courtney still didn't release her, Heather began to hyperventilate again. She couldn't bear it; she loathed being touched. Suddenly she felt as if Courtney was constricting her; she couldn't breathe. Terror clouded her mind, and the Queen Bee felt a scream building in her throat. However, when Courtney noticed the sudden change in the other teen's demeanor, she immediately withdrew, guilt etched into every crevice of her face. "Sorry," she mumbled, giving Heather a nervous glance. A mental note was made to avoid any physical contact unless Heather was the one to initiate it.

Inhaling a sharp intake of breath, the Queen Bee finally began to calm down. Though her bony shoulders were trembling violently, as if she couldn't quite shake off the horror that had flooded her veins. Eventually, Heather gave Courtney a soft smile, before flicking her wrist over to the other teen's bed.

"Are you sure there isn't anything I can do?" the former C.I.T mumbled. "I could stay with you if you want." Despite her words, Courtney couldn't prevent the sudden yawn that graced her lips. Exhaustion was certainly creeping in on the Hispanic teen; after all, she had stayed up chatting much later than Heather. The Japanese girl shook her head and pointed at the bed one more time. Rather than argue, Courtney complied, and soon enough she had cocooned herself in the flimsy blanket that came with the bed.

"Hey Heather," she whispered across the cabin, her voice just loud enough to carry over to the Queen Bee, "I wouldn't mind being friends." Although Heather didn't respond aloud, the corners of her lips twitched upwards into a genuine smile. Perhaps they could even make it work too, since Heather wasn't actually trying for the million dollars this time and therefore couldn't be competition for Courtney.

Sighing, Heather leaned back against the cabin wall and allowed her pale lids to shield her steely orbs from view. She had never been able to fall back asleep after waking up from one of her nightmares. And if LeShawna had been correct before, then it was probably only four a.m. at the moment. She had at least three hours to go before the other campers began to wake up. With a grimace, the woman settled herself comfortably against the wall. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

A soft yawn slipped through Heather's lips, and she wearily crawled off her mattress. The teen's eyelids felt as if they were full of lead, but every time she closed her eyes_ his_ face swam into view. Grimacing, the Queen Bee shuffled through her suitcase, pulling out a clean outfit along with her ivory towels. Padding over to Courtney's bed, Heather tentatively pressed a hand into the overachiever's shoulder and gave her a gentle shake.

Tanned lids gently fluttered open, and Courtney yawned before peering over at Heather curiously. Arching a perfectly plucked brow, the Hispanic girl mumbled, "Is there something you need Heather?" In response, Heather lifted up her towels and canted her head at the girl. Courtney stared at the cloth blankly, before sighing and nodding her head. "Fine. I'm getting up."

When Courtney had gathered her necessary toiletries and a change of clothes, the two walked side by side over to the communal bathrooms. It was a much more comfortable journey than the one taken the day before, though Courtney still felt as though she should break the silence. "By the way Heather, is there a reason you need me to go to the showers with you? I mean… I don't mind, but it's a little odd that a nineteen year old woman needs a bathroom buddy," the former C.I.T. said, training her onyx orbs on her newfound friend.

Biting her lip, Heather wrapped her arms around her frame and glanced over at the surrounding woods. Courtney noticed the direction of her gaze, and her brow just furrowed in confusion, "Are you afraid of the forest or something now?" At this, Heather actually turned to give the other woman an incredulous look, her brows rising into her hair. "Yea, alright. I didn't think that was it," replied Courtney, grinning at the Japanese teen. "Don't like to be alone?" she guessed. It was just a shot in the dark, but when Heather merely stared down at her sandals, Courtney knew she'd given the correct answer.

Tilting her head at the Queen Bee, Courtney mumbled, "But… I don't understand. You never used to be…" Her sentence trailed off as a sudden thought occurred to her, and the former C.I.T. lowered her voice slightly, even though no one else was around. "Does this have anything to do with your nightmares?" When Heather's only response was to close her eyes, Courtney dropped the subject. If this tentative friendship was going to survive, then she would have to try to avoid making Heather distressed.

Voices suddenly began to permeate the air, causing both teens to frown. They'd arrived at the communal bathrooms, but apparently they weren't the first arrivals. Upon entering the bathroom, all conversation died down. All eyes turned to stare the duo down, and Heather was seriously considering turning about and running away. A firm grip on her upper arm caused her to look down, only to find Courtney's fingers clamped around her appendage. When the Japanese girl glanced up at her friend, the former C.I.T. was giving her a reassuring smile.

There were only three showers, and currently all three were in use. Katie, Sadie, and Izzy were all applying various amounts of makeup on as they stared into the massive mirror, occasionally wiping a hand across the reflective panel to clear the fog. Izzy was rambling on and on, and Heather didn't really care enough to listen. Though she did hear the words "Russia", "nuclear", and "grandmother" multiple times. And the clones were each squealing overly excited compliments to each other.

Courtney and Heather just shuffled off to the side to wait their turn for the showers, neither one saying a word. However, something coming from the shower next to them caught the Queen Bee's attention, and she casually cocked an ear to listen in. With a bit of amusement, she elbowed Courtney and gestured to the curtain. Although she couldn't tell who it was, the person behind that piece of plastic was softly singing the song "Shearing Sheep" from season three under their breath. This caused Courtney to giggle lightly, and Heather felt a tiny smile grace her lips.

But their amusement immediately died away when the shower curtain furthest away pulled back to reveal Gwen, who was pulling on her last boot. Heather felt Courtney immediately tense up next to her, and when she glanced at the Hispanic girl she was glaring daggers at the goth. Suddenly the former C.I.T. opened her mouth, but the Queen Bee quickly lay a hand down on her shoulder, effectively preventing the insult that she knew was bubbling on Courtney's lips. Huffing, Courtney inclined her head over to the shower that Gwen had just exited, "Go ahead. I don't want to use the same shower that that Boyfriend-Stealer just came out of."

At this, the entire communal bathroom fell silent except for the sounds of running water. The goth girl turned around to frown at Courtney, before retorting, "Jeez. You're hanging out with Heather now? I knew you were mean, but I didn't think you'd gone completely over to the dark side."

Heather could practically sense her friend seething next to her, and any moment now she was certain Courtney would breathe fire. Her grip tightened on the overachiever's shoulder, and the Japanese girl shook her head. Arguing with Gwen just wasn't worth getting worked up over. The Hispanic teen made a vexed sound, though she let it slide this time. "I promise I won't leave 'till you're out," she mumbled, just loud enough for the Queen Bee to hear.

Nodding, Heather stalked over to the vacant shower and slid the curtain shut. Setting her towels and clothes down on a bench that was positioned just out of reach of the flow of water, the teen tentatively turned the nozzle on. Luckily since she was not the first person to use the shower, the liquid that came gushing out was a nice steaming temperature. Sighing happily, she softly began to lather shampoo into her long ebony locks, massaging her scalp and carefully combing her fingers through her hair. Her morning showers were always soothing and relaxing, as opposed to the emergency showers she took when she felt… filthy.

Shaking her head, Heather allowed the downpour of water to wash away all of the suds in her hair. Unfortunately, her moment of peace was ruined by a sudden commotion on the other side of the shower curtain.

"Watch where you're going weird goth girl."

"You're using Heather's insults now too? That's just sad."

"Heather is much better company than you ever were."

"Are you gonna shave your head too? Then you can be a match set, because you're certainly already as mean as her."

"You're one to talk Boyfriend-Kisser."

"Wow, that's so original."

"Like you have any right to talk about originality. You're just like every other goth girl out there with your 'oh poor me, I'm the victim' act. You think you're unique? Ha! You're just another face in a sea of _cheaters_."

"Oh get over yourself."

After that, Heather heard a door creak open then slam shut. The Queen Bee was probably correct in assuming that was Gwen storming out. Well, she couldn't expect Courtney to stay calm forever, especially when the wound was still relatively fresh. Saying a few months was enough to heal a broken heart was like saying that a band-aid was enough to keep a severed limb in place.

Eventually, Heather dried herself off and got dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a red blouse. Not her first choice, but she'd allowed her sister Annette to pack her bags. And while her sibling respected her wishes to abandon all concealing clothing, that didn't stop her from packing fashionable outfits. When asked about it, the eldest sibling had merely stated, "I'm not going to stand by while my baby sister ruins herself on international television by wearing sweatpants and baggy t-shirts every day."

Slipping into her black heels, Heather stepped out of the shower only to find that the majority of the girls had left the bathroom. She could still hear Courtney in the shower though, and Lindsay was now over by the mirror straightening out her hair with a flat iron. With her brush in hand, the Queen Bee went over to stand by the blonde ditz and gently began guiding the bristles through her dark curtains.

However, the blonde immediately frowned and walked as far away from Heather as her flat iron cord would allow. In that slightly aired tone she murmured, "Sorry Hannah, but Gigi said that Caitlyn caught the mean disease from you, and I don't want to get it too." At this, Heather just sighed and tried to ignore Lindsay, instead focusing on the pleasurable sensation that always came with brushing her hair. Once you've lost something that you used to take for granted, getting it back gives you an entirely new perception on it.

"Hey Hannah, how come you haven't said anything mean to me?" the blonde inquired, gazing at Heather in confusion. "Usually you try to insult me all the time."

"Because she isn't mean, Lindsay," came another voice from behind them. The Japanese girl turned around to smile at Courtney, who was once again dressed in her usual attire. Technically their contracts stated that they were required to wear matching outfits every single day, so as to confuse the audience less. However, Annette had been horrified at the idea through the first three seasons, and so she had managed to get Chris to make the additional change to Heather's contract.

The former C.I.T. grinned at Heather, examining her outfit, "You look good. Someday you'll have to tell me how you found a loop hole in the whole 'same outfits every day' thing."

"Wait, Hannah isn't mean anymore? Are you sure she isn't just faking again?" muttered Lindsay, giving Heather a wary look.

In response, Heather merely shrugged and padded over to Courtney. As the Hispanic teen began to apply her eyeliner, the Queen Bee calmly began to brush out her friend's hair. It was a sort of agreement they'd come to. If Courtney accompanied Heather to the bathrooms and stayed with her, then Heather would take care of the overachiever's mocha locks. They both found it a fair trade, since Heather loathed solitude, and Courtney couldn't stand dealing with her stubborn hair.

"Look out Caitlyn! She's gonna try to steal your hair again," the buxom blonde gasped, pointing at Heather with a ruby painted fingernail.

With a roll of her eyes, Courtney replied, "No she isn't Lindsay. _Heather_ is just brushing my hair for me."

"Why?"

"Because I asked her to."

"Oh."

There was a moment of peaceful silence before Lindsay stated, "Hey Hannah, do you want to brush my hair too? I think your hair is really pretty, and so is Caitlyn's." The blonde beamed brightly at the two, "If you want, I'll let you use my lip gloss! I brought, like, a lot."

Both Heather and Courtney gave the airhead a queer look, before Courtney finally said, "Uhh… Lindsay, why do you need Heather to brush your hair if you're already flat ironing it?"

"Duh, because it looks like fun silly!" Lindsay replied, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. Shrugging, Heather finished her last few strokes through Courtney's shoulder length curtains, before moving over to her ex-alliance member. The Hispanic girl gave Heather an encouraging smile, before turning back to the mirror to finish adding her final cosmetic touches.

Although Heather had never really been fond of blonde hair, she had to admit that Lindsay did have a very beautiful mane. As she gently brushed through the girl's long strands, the airhead began to chatter about odd topics. She lingered on Tyler for a while, with Heather absentmindedly nodding her head at the appropriate moments. Truthfully, she didn't think much of the accident prone athlete, though the Japanese girl could see why he would appeal to Lindsay. Tyler was sweet in some ways, but he just wasn't smart enough to match Heather's standards. For Lindsay though, he was a match made in heaven.

Frowning, Heather bit her lip and shook her head. Berating someone, even if just in her own mind, was an aspect of herself that she didn't really care for. Focusing back on the task at hand, she quickly finished up with Lindsay's hair and pulled away. Turning around to walk back over to Courtney, the Queen Bee immediately went still as a pair of arms pulled her into a choking embrace. "Aww, thanks Hannah! You did such a good job!" she squealed, tightening her grip.

"Lindsay! Get off of her!" cried Courtney, practically ripping away the blonde's hands. Heather's hands were quivering as she clasped them together in an attempt to calm down. She hated having this… this overwhelming terror of being touched. In her head she knew that the odds of something actually happening to her were between slim and zero. Unfortunately when actually presented with her fear, all reason flew out the window.

Pouting, the blonde began to rub her wrists and sniffed at the former C.I.T. "That like, really hurt. Why would you do that?" she whined.

Before Courtney could say anything, Heather locked eyes with her and frowned, giving an imperceptible shake of her head. The Hispanic girl pursed her lips, but remained silent. Tentatively, Heather padded over to Lindsay and forced a strained smile onto her face. No it wasn't real, but at least Lindsay fell for it. The blonde smiled optimistically at Heather, "Apology accepted Hannah."

Leaving the airhead behind in the bathroom, Heather and Courtney silently made their way back to the Vicious Vipers' cabin. After placing their toiletries and pajamas where they belonged, the duo went over to the dining hall. Most of the other contestants were there, either eating, making out, or chatting animatedly.

The girls were each served a plate of burned bacon and hairy pancakes, to which each of them gave a sour look before taking a seat at the end of the Vipers' table. Courtney almost immediately began talking with Bridgette, who was startlingly party boy free. Apparently Geoff was still in the showers. This caused the surfer girl to roll her eyes, "Even though he is much better now, he still has some of that 'I need to look my best' attitude. You know, the one that he developed on our show." As the two continued to chat, Heather poked her food sullenly. Since she hadn't eaten dinner last night, and she'd vomited her lunch during yesterday's challenge, she should have been starving. But the truth was, Heather rarely ate anymore. She just had no appetite these days.

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat next to her, and the Japanese girl shifted in her seat to find that she was face to face with Chef. The cook bared his teeth at her, causing the teen to shrink back into Courtney's side, before he pulled out an envelope and basically shoved it into her hand. "Here, as soon as we got it," he growled. And with that, he stomped back to the kitchen.

Many of the other campers glanced curiously over at Heather, whose lips twitched upward at the sight of her brother's familiar handwriting. So, Chris had kept his word. The teen carefully tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter within. As she scanned the letter, the tiny smile gracing her lips gradually began to widen.

_Dear Heather,_

_ Hey sis! I hope your first day went well. Or… as well as can be expected I guess. Hopefully the challenge wasn't too bad. I know the first episode probably won't air until halfway through the season, so you'll have to write me back and tell me what happened. How are the other people treating you? If any of them even think of touching you, I'll come down there and kick all of their asses. Even Duncan's. Wow, wouldn't that be awkward: "Hey, you're my idol and all, but I'm gonna kick your ass for bothering my sister." But I don't know if I like him anymore. Mom told me what he said to you on the dock. What a jerk. Is that one kid still nice to you? The gap-toothed one that that crazy stalker was obsessing over. He's pretty annoying, but he at least seemed nice to you before. Any who, things are pretty boring around here at the moment. Mom and Dad said to tell you that they love you. Man, you should see them right now. They are totally obsessing over you! Well… okay, not gonna lie, we're all a little worried. Are you holding up okay? I really wish you didn't have to go back there, but Mom says that there isn't anything we can do because of your contract. So just promise me that you'll make it out of there in one piece, alright?_

_P.S. - Annette wants me to ask you if you like the clothes she packed for you._

_P.P.S. – Heather, I know the food there is disgusting, but I want you to eat every single meal. I'm serious! The doctor says that you're already dangerously thin. So make sure to eat up, alright?_

_ Love,_

_ Damien, Annette, Mom, and Dad_

The Queen Bee let out a tiny chuckle at the ending of her brother's letter. Even miles away, he still found a way to look out for her while simultaneously annoying her. Glancing at her plate of food, the teen finally decided that she could probably stomach the charred bacon. But there was absolutely no way she was eating hairy pancakes.

As something gently poked her in the side, Heather turned around only to find that nearly all of the Vipers as well as quite a few of the Dingos were staring at her. The Japanese girl immediately dropped her gaze to her plate. Picking up a piece of the blackened meat, she swiftly took a bite of it, grimacing at the foul ashen taste. She felt Courtney's hair tickle her shoulder as the former C.I.T. leaned in to whisper, "Heather, what did Chef give you?"

After a quick glance at the letter, Heather carefully handed it over to her friend. Courtney quickly read through the contents of the paper, pausing only once to smirk at what her brother had written of Duncan. When she'd finished reading through the letter twice, the Hispanic girl gave Heather a confused look. "But why would-"

With a shake of her head, the Queen Bee effectively silenced the teen. A sweep of her gaze across the room was enough to make the overachiever aware of the other contestants, who were leaning in to try to listen in on their conversation. After all, why would anyone be receiving a letter from Chef? Sighing, Courtney grasped Heather's wrist and practically dragged her out of the mess hall and into the woods. When they were about twenty feet in, the Hispanic girl whirled about so that she was facing Heather.

"Okay, so, why did you get a letter from home when no one else on any season has ever been allowed to receive a letter from home?" Courtney inquired, placing her hands on her hips and staring at the Japanese teen. Heather gently snatched the letter out of the former C.I.T's hand and pointed to the word "contract."

"Chris changed your contract? Why?" she demanded, surprise showing on her features. After all, it was rare that Chris ever made a change to the contracts. Courtney herself had had to fight tooth and nail for her exceptions in season two. Instead of a response, Heather just bit her lip and shook her head, unable to meet her friend's eyes. Courtney felt her stern gaze soften at this, and she sighed, "Alright, I won't ask that."

A silence echoed between them for a few minutes, and Heather had actually begun to think that perhaps Courtney had finished her interrogation. However, when the overachiever next spoke, it was in a very subdued tone, "Heather… will you please lift the bottom of your blouse for me. Please?" The Queen Bee felt her eyes widen at this, and her head snapped up so that she could stare at her friend. "Your brother mentioned a doctor," the teen mumbled, fixing Heather with a firm expression.

The two stared each other down for a solid minute, before Heather lowered her gaze. Gingerly, she lifted the hem of her blouse, raising it until the soft fabric was just under her breasts. Courtney gasped at the state of Heather's torso. Her ribs jutted out against her skin, and her waist was so small the former C.I.T. could probably fit both hands around it. The Queen Bee hastily lowered the crimson fabric, frightened that someone else would walk by and see. The Hispanic teen had a shocked expression on her face, before concern was the main emotion shown on her features, "Heather, that's really serious. You look emaciated! You're not…" The teen frowned and glanced around, lowering her voice before continuing, "Are you anorexic?"

Heather immediately shook her head, pursing her lips over at Courtney. It hurt that her Hispanic friend could even suggest such a thing, although that was certainly where the evidence pointed. Before Courtney could respond, she was cut off by the loud speakers.

"Attention, will all campers please report to the area in front of the cabins. We will be heading out to start the challenge in five minutes," said the voice of Chris, magnified to sound throughout the entire camp.

"This conversation isn't done," murmured Courtney, but she reluctantly let the subject fall as the two of them made their way back to the camp. Though the journey back was held in silence, the air between the two girls was quite tense, and the overachiever continued to sneak glances over at Heather as they walked.

Upon their arrival back at camp, the duo noted that all of the other campers had already arrived, so they hastily moved to join their fellow Vipers. A few moments later, Chris strolled over to the two teams, shadowed closely by his nefarious aid, Chef. The host ordered all of the teens to come with him, and soon enough they were all trekking through the woods to find their next task. Various snippets of conversation took place between small pockets of campers, and occasionally Heather would listen in, before growing bored and tuning them out once more.

"Oh Codykins, I hope today is another marriage challenge. Remember last season when you agreed to be my husband, and then we had a baby together. Aww, I miss Cody Jr., don't you?" said Sierra, whom was currently holding the technogeek's hands in a vice-like grip.

The aforementioned teen blanched and once more attempted to reason with the girl into releasing his palm from her own, "Uhh… Sierra, could you please let go of my hand? I think I'm beginning to lose circulation in my fingers."

"Ooh! I'll give you a hand massage then to get the blood flowing," the stalker replied cheerfully. Heather arched a brow as a sultry expression crossed the purple-maned teen's face, who suddenly leaned in and whispered something into the shorter boy's ear. Moments later his face was red enough to rival a strawberry.

The Japanese teen's attention shifted to Katie and Sadie, though when it became apparent that they were only speaking about trivial matters such as memories of High school, the Queen Bee focused on a conversation being held between Trent, Tyler, and Justin. It sounded as if the three males were comparing and contrasting the different females in the competition.

"I'll agree with you on one thing Tyler. Besides me, of course, Lindsay is probably the hottest person here," commented Justin, who was eyeing the blonde ditz appreciatively.

The red-clad jock nodded, before glancing over at Justin suspiciously, "Just remember that she's _my_ girlfriend bro."

"Don't worry about that. Although I may not be the most intelligent guy here, I'm certainly out of Lindsay's league. I mean, sure, she's hot. But when a girl can't even remember my name, well… there are other good looking chicks out there," replied the male model.

Tyler crossed his arms and began to glower over at the other, "Lindsay can be smart. Besides, she remembers my name."

"Yea, but dude, for the first three seasons she could never tell who you were," retorted Trent, who had gained a lopsided grin due to the accident-prone athlete's pouting. "Plus, I'd rather date a girl that is smart, funny, can hold up a decent conversation, not to mention smokin' hot. You know, just an all-around good person."

Justin smirked wryly, "We all already know that you're still into Gwen, so you don't need to avoid saying her name. Personally I can't get around that garish goth makeup, so she's all yours if she can ever quit drooling over Duncan. Honestly, I don't know what chicks see in him."

Trent sighed, "Yea, well… a guy can dream."

"Actually, when I first got here I was seriously considering Heather as a summer fling," confessed the bronze Adonis.

This caused the Queen Bee to frown and actually flick her gaze over to the trio, startled by the words that had just left the male model's mouth. Apparently, both Tyler and Trent felt the same, as they were both gaping at Justin, "Heather?!"

The teen merely shrugged, "Besides Lindsay, who is your typical blonde hottie, Heather is probably the best lookin' girl here. And she's got the brains to boot."

"Well, yeah, but she's such a manipulative bitch," muttered Tyler, recalling the time when the Queen Bee had launched a canoe at his head.

"Exactly, which is why I never pursued her. It became apparent pretty fast that she was a horrible person. I mean, reading Gwen's diary on national television was a total turn off," replied Justin, shaking his head for added effect.

The guitar player grimaced at the male model's words, "No kidding. Okay, so how about Courtney? I remember watching some season two episodes after I was voted off, and for a while there you seemed to have a thing for her."

The male model snorted derisively, an action which he still somehow managed to make attractive, "Yea, until she got me voted off and I lost a chance at a million dollars. She's smart and smokin', but that chick has a temper that could probably rival Eva's."

The accident-prone athlete nodded in agreement, "Yea, she seems like an emotional basket case. Half the time she's sweet and friendly, and the other half she's trying to claw someone's eyes out or crying. Personally, I wouldn't want to have to deal with that from a girl I was dating."

Heather felt her brows furrow in annoyance at how easily the guys just analyzed the female campers, as if the girls were just there to provide eye candy. The Japanese teen turned to her newfound friend to see what she made of all this, but the former C.I.T's gaze was currently transfixed elsewhere. Courtney was scowling over at Gwen and Duncan, who were murmuring softly to each other. The delinquent casually had his arm draped over the goth's shoulders, and she had her arm wrapped around his waist. Heather was slightly surprised that the scene wasn't causing Courtney to foam at the mouth, though based on the overachiever's expression, she was fairly close.

Obviously the Hispanic teen wasn't planning on talking to the Queen Bee any time soon, so Heather let her gaze fall to the soil, hoping to avoid notice until they arrived at the challenge. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case, as the Japanese girl felt her shoulders tense when a presence suddenly came up behind her. She didn't dare lift her eyes to see who it was, praying that when she didn't acknowledge them they would just leave.

"_Hola señorita_," a silky voice purred. She hadn't even noticed him before at camp, nor had she laid eyes on the man since they'd left. And now, her Latin love was directly behind her, close enough that she could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck.

Without pause, Heather caught Courtney's wrist in an iron grip and sped away from the man, dragging her startled friend along with her. Only when they had come even with the host did the Queen Bee slow. Truthfully, she wanted nothing to do with the sadistic man, but she could stomach her hatred for Chris if it kept the Spaniard at bay. Once their pace had relaxed to an unhurried walk, the former C.I.T. rounded on the Japanese girl, placing her hands on her hips in an exasperated manner.

"What was that about?" Courtney muttered, quirking her brow at the Queen Bee. "I can't honestly believe you dragged me up here just to stand with Chris."

Of course McLean heard this, and he leaned back to smirk at the two girls, "I know I'm irresistible, so I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that the two of you would be drawn to me."

Heather ignored the irritating man, instead jerking her head back towards where they'd been previously standing. The former C.I.T. glanced around, her ebony orbs widening in comprehension when she noticed the Spaniard. "Alejan-" she began, but her words were abruptly stopped when Heather laid a finger against her lips. The Japanese teen didn't want to think his name, let alone hear it. Eventually, she would have to deal with her conflicted feelings for the male, as well as her betrayal. However, the longer she could push it off, the better.

* * *

When the campers arrived at what would be their next challenge, what they saw seemed a little... lackluster, especially after the task they'd had to complete yesterday. Before them stood a massive wooden pole, scaling at least thirty feet high. At the top, a large wooden platform was constructed, and it seemed as if it would be able to hold all twenty-three bodies with room to spare. Winding up the length of a pole was a rickety wooden spiral staircase.

"Alright campers, get climbing. Once we're all up on the platform, I'll explain today's challenge," announced Chris, grinning wryly at the camera. One by one, the contestants shuffled up the stairs. Given how unstable it seemed, Heather couldn't help but wince every time her foot hit a squeaky step. When the last person had ascended the steps and crowded in with the rest of the group, the host began to explain the challenge.

Before speaking, Chris pointed over to another pole that was perhaps a hundred yards away. It was identical in every way to the one they currently stood on, complete with a massive wooden platform and a set of spiral stairs. "As I'm sure you've noticed by now," said Chris, "way over there is another platform. Your job, is to cross over to it without touching the ground."

After a momentary pause, the host continued, "To accomplish this, we have graciously provided four different ways to get there." He walked over to a rickety rope bridge, which constantly swayed with the gusts of wind that were always present high up in the air. "The first way, is by this bridge here. It is by far the sturdiest means, but it is also the longest. It winds about half way around the island."

His sneakers thudded against the wooden boards as he made his way over to another means of crossing. It seemed to be a bunch of wooden boards, nailed together and held up by long thin poles placed into the ground below. The planks themselves were about eight inches wide, and the pattern they created constantly zigzagged across the clearing. At one point, they even disappeared into the forest before reappearing to meet with the far platform. "The second way, is by walking across these planks. Since there are no railings, you'll have to try to keep your balance all the way across. It is the second longest way, and it is the second sturdiest," Chris explained, before once more walking along the platform.

He came to a stop just in front of what looked like a telephone wire. The cord was about two inches thick and covered in black rubber, though Heather could see that further down the wire there were places where the rubber had been ripped away, leaving the electrical circuits within exposed. "The third way, is by tightrope walking along this electrical cord. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, it is the second shortest and quite dangerous."

Eventually, he came to a halt in the middle of the platform, though with some confusion Heather noted that nothing was behind him but air. And then, further out she spotted what looked like a trapeze bar, similar to the ones acrobats use in circuses. She had actually used them before in gymnastics when she was little. However, these bars were spread dangerously far apart, enough that if one wrong move was made, then the person would go plummeting down to the ground below. Chris cackled, "And of course, behind me is the shortest and most dangerous means to get across to the other platform. Any of you ever seen a trapeze? Well, we have graciously provided one for you to cross on." The host smirked before continuing, "And just to make things more interesting, some of the bars have been covered in grease. So, here's to hoping that you don't slip if you choose this option."

Sidling back over to the contestants, Chris cracked a wry grin, "The first team to have all of its members across wins immunity. And to make sure that not all of you choose the bridge, the first person across will receive a reward."

LeShawna sniffed and pursed her lips at the host in suspicion, "And what might this reward be? I ain't riskin' my neck for some crummy chips and a soda."

"Actually, whoever wins will get to take one other person of their choice along with them for a relaxing night at a spa," retorted the host. This certainly caught the campers' attention, and now a few were seriously considering some of the more dangerous options. "Oh, and one more thing," said Chris, causing everyone to release a collective sigh, "once you've chosen a way to cross, you can't change your mind. You'll be stuck with it until either the end of the challenge, or the other team has already gotten all of its members across."

With that, the host nodded, and sauntered over to the staircase. He would probably be heading out to wait at the other platform for the campers to arrive. "You can begin whenever you're ready," he drawled, before descending the steep slope.

Chef muttered something under his breath, before leaning back against the railing. In a sharp tone, he snapped, "Alright you pathetic worms, you heard the man. Get to it! I'm here to make sure that you sissies don't try to cheat and change your mind."

With that, everyone immediately ran to the cross way that they planned to use. Well over half the campers ended up taking the rope bridge, despite the additional perks that would be provided for whomever finished first. Apparently, safety was more important than a day at the spa. Heather watched from a distance as Lindsay, Tyler, Beth, Owen, Justin, Sadie, Katie, and DJ all began running down the planks. Well, it figures that they would have to hurry if they planned to reach the opposite platform first, considering that they had quite a journey ahead of them.

Moments later, Bridgette and Geoff followed after the others. They had their hands clasped, and were walking at a leisurely pace. Apparently, they had taken a minute or two to confer on which crossing to take, since they obviously planned to travel together.

LeShawna began cautiously making her way along the planks, her arms outstretched to either side to help keep her balanced. Gwen gulped before following after the spunky girl, occasionally darting worried glances over the edge. Just before the guitar player had stepped onto the tightrope, he pulled back and instead ran over to the planks so he could follow after the goth girl.

Apparently, Duncan had no such reservations to go with his girlfriend, as he immediately began walking along the tight rope. He was a few yards behind Harold, who had been the first person onto the wire. Unfortunately for the bespectacled nerd, his foot landed on one of the portions where a circuit was exposed. Electricity pulsed up into the geek, and he began convulsing violently before dropping to the ground below. The Queen Bee winced as Harold landed into a mud bank with a loud splat. Fortunately, it seemed as if the entire clearing was muddy, so a drop from this height shouldn't kill anyone. However, there might be a few broken bones by the end of the challenge.

Ignoring the fate that had befallen the redhead, Sierra picked up her crush bridal style and started to walk along the cord, humming chipperly. It was pretty much exactly like it had been in Niagara Falls, though the stalker wasn't wearing a wedding dress. Cody seemed fed up with the entire matter, and had simply resolved not to struggle and pray that they would make it across in one piece. Only one other person took the electrical cord, and she didn't seem too happy about it. Then again, Eva never seemed happy with anything.

Izzy had immediately sprinted toward the trapeze once Chris announced the beginning of the challenge. She was already swinging on the third bar, laughing maniacally as she did so. However, when she launched herself towards the fourth, her hand gripped it for a moment before slipping off, and she dropped towards the ground. The insane teen also landed in the mud, though unlike Harold who was still trying to gain his bearings, Izzy jerked upward and began racing back to the starting pole.

This left Noah, Heather, Courtney, and Alejandro on the platform. A quick glance showed that the Indian teen was entirely uninterested in the challenge, as he had plucked a small book from his pocket. Noah leaned up against the railing opposite Chef, his chocolate brown irises scanning the pages of his novel.

Truthfully, Heather thought that she would have easily been able to complete the trapeze part, since she'd been a regional gymnast champion for four consecutive years when she was younger. It was one of the reasons that she was so flexible. And though her interests had shifted to ballet in High School, she still performed a few gymnast routines from time to time to keep her muscles limber. However, the Queen Bee had zero interest in being the first to arrive on the other platform. Winning would mean that she had to spend her time alone with only one other person other than the spa staff, who would be constantly touching her or talking to her. That was about as far from a good time as she could get at the moment. Therefore, she turned to the former C.I.T. and merely waited for her friend to make a decision.

The Hispanic teen huffed darkly, crossing her arms over her chest, "Damn. It doesn't look like that cheater is going to fall." This confused the Queen Bee for a moment, until she realized that Courtney was scowling over at Duncan, who was already a third of the way across the cord. "If I'm going to beat him, I'd have to take the trapeze." Courtney bit her lip and shook her head, "Doubt I could do it though."

Suddenly, Courtney turned to her friend and grinned, "Think you'd be able to make it?" Her tone made it sound as if she was kidding, though Heather could tell that a tiny flame of hope was flickering in the former C.I.T's dark eyes. Hesitantly, Heather nodded. "Really?" the overachiever murmured skeptically, eyeing Heather up and down. The Japanese teen once more nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. "Will you do it?"

Petite shoulders drooped, and Heather hung her head miserably. She desperately wanted to avoid solitude, even if it meant losing the challenge. Nodding in understanding, Courtney laid a hand on the pale girl's shoulder, "It's alright. Let's just take the planks. If we hurry, we can probably catch up and maybe even surpass the others."

* * *

Bridgette sighed, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead. The sun had long since reached its zenith, and it was now on the decline. An unusual heat wave had gripped the island lately, and it was always at its worse during the afternoon. Even with Geoff's cowboy hat keeping most of the sun's blazing rays off her face, she was still sweating bullets. It was times like these when she really regretted wearing her jacket everywhere. Especially when she couldn't take it off, since she wore nothing underneath except a bra. Geoff was panting profusely next to her, his entire frame slumped as he wearily trudged on.

The duo had been walking for hours, and they'd caught up to the others on the bridge some time ago. Ahead of her, were Lindsay, Beth, and Tyler. At least the blonde ditz was dressed properly for the weather. Though the jock in the tracksuit seemed as if he was going to pass out at any moment, and that was even with his sleeves and pants rolled up to his elbows and knees. Justin walked a few paces behind her, his chiseled torso practically glowing since he'd removed his olive green t-shirt. Actually, the sight of the male model shirtless was probably the only thing keeping Katie and Sadie from giving up. Their eyes had been glued to the attractive teen ever since he'd placed his abs on display, and even through the heat they were practically drooling. Further back was DJ, and he actually seemed relatively unaffected by the scorching temperature. The brick house was only trailing the rest because he didn't see a point in trying to move ahead until the very end. Actually, none of them seemed to care about surpassing each other. At this point, the odds that any of them would be the first across were slim to none. Now it was more about conserving energy so that they could actually _make it_ to the end.

To her knowledge, only one other contestant had taken the bridge, and that was Owen. The surfer still felt a bit guilty about leaving the teen behind, especially since when she'd last seen him he was heaving profusely and gasping for breath. Little good it would do now, since they'd left the boy with the bottomless stomach behind hours ago.

The heat seemed to be weighing heavily on all of them, and conversation had died away quite some time ago. "I hope Owen is alright," she murmured somberly, trying to break the silence.

"Eh, I'm sure he's fine Bridge. If not, then Chris will probably send some poor intern to help him out," her boyfriend reasoned. Though even he sounded unsure.

Suddenly, a terrified screech sounded from behind them, and Bridgette whirled around. One of the boards had snapped, and Sadie was hanging from it by her fingertips. Rather than helping, Katie had her palms covering her eyes, as if by not watching the scene it would go away. Bridgette immediately sprinted back and got a grip on the chubby girl's arm, straining back in an attempt to pull her up. A pair of well-muscled arms reached around her to grasp the clone's arm, and she leaned back to give her boyfriend a relieved smile. DJ rushed forward to grab Sadie's other hand, and eventually the three of them managed to pull her up.

Unfortunately, through all the commotion Katie had fallen in a dead faint, and any attempts to wake her were proving futile. Being the gentleman that he was, DJ pulled the thinner twin into his arms, cradling her against his chest. "Uhh, I think it would be best if we kept walkin' guys. I wanna get off this rickety bridge as soon as possible," the gentle giant murmured, giving the broken board a wary look.

The others agreed, and soon enough they were once more trekking along the unstable bridge, keeping an eye out for more broken planks. Eventually, Geoff spoke up, "Hey guys, why don't we sing something maybe? I know it sounds a little cliché, but it'll probably take our minds off of the heat."

After a few moments, Bridgette grinned and began in a harmonious tune, "_Up, up, up, up…"_

Geoff barked a laugh, before joining in with her, "_Sing, sing, sing, sing…"_

Before they knew it, the entire group found themselves singing through nearly all of the songs from the previous season. Even the people who hadn't been there had watched the episodes enough to know the lyrics. And Geoff was right, the tunes did manage to keep their minds off of the heat and the challenge for a while. Bridgette even sang the song she'd performed on The Aftermath, when she'd been literally begging Geoff for forgiveness. Now that they were together and stronger than ever, the couple could look back on the experience and laugh. Bridgette still regretted her quickie fling with Alejandro, and she probably always would. But Geoff seemed to have forgiven her completely, since the Spaniard had played nearly every girl that had been on the third season.

Geoff was laughing heartily as he continued to sing, "_—not the gal you think she is, so let me tell you, plainly. There's thick black hair between her toes, and her real name isn't Blainel-"_

The party boy was cut off as Lindsay squealed cheerfully and began sprinting forward, with Tyler and Beth following close on her heels. Bridgette and Geoff shared a look, before racing after the trio.

* * *

A grating squeal caused Heather to flinch, though she didn't lift her features from her hands. The Japanese teen was currently sulking in the corner, with Courtney gently rubbing small circles on her back. Thankfully neither Heather nor Courtney had reached the platform first. And much to Courtney's relief, neither had Duncan. Though when Heather had learned who'd been the first to cross, she had seriously considered falling off the platform in the hopes of receiving a concussion. It was the reason for her current state.

When a thunder of footsteps suddenly pounded onto the platform, the Queen Bee actually did glance up. Apparently the people that had taken the rope bridge had finally arrived, and from the looks of things DJ was the last one across. Heather arched a brow when she noted that the brick house was carrying Katie, who appeared to be unconscious.

So, with the new arrivals, that left only Owen, Harold, and Izzy who had yet to cross. Suddenly, a panting Bridgette spoke up, "Who won?"

Heather once more buried her face in her hands, trying to block out the answer that she knew would be coming any second. "Well," Chris replied, "we're still waiting on three more campers to get here. However, Alejandro was the first person to reach the platform." Bridgette groaned at this, before leaning back into the party boy.

Luckily, the platform they were all on was shaded under a large tarp, so the majority of the heat that had plagued the contestants was warded off. Apparently Chris couldn't stand to be out in the sunlight during this heat wave. Even with the additional shade though, Chef Hatchet was still fanning the host with a large palm frond.

A loud bang caused everyone to jump, and Heather frowned over at the edge of the platform. It seemed that Izzy had finally made it across by smacking face first into the wooden boards. She was coated from head to toe in mud from all of the times she'd fallen, and even through the muck it was obvious that a black eye was beginning to form. The psychotic redhead lurched to her feet and began giggling hysterically.

"Uhh… Izzy? Are you alright?" inquired Beth, concern lacing her words as she placed a hand on the crazy girl's shoulder.

Immediately Izzy began flailing her arms about and grinning psychotically, "Oh man, that was so much fun! I always knew I would make an awesome acrobat. This one time, I was in a circus with my cousin, Simon, and I was a lion tamer. But like, I always watched the acrobats and I totally wanted to do it! So one day when everyone went home, I snuck back in and tried it. There wasn't a net, so it was like, totally dangerous. Then I set one of the hoops on fire and tried to swing through it, but I totally missed and caught on fire! So then I let go of the bar and fell and broke my arm! And then my cousin had to take me to the hospital. I think they put me out after that though, because I don't really remember anything else until the next day." The entire story had been delivered in approximately fifteen seconds, and so by the end everyone just stared at the red head in confusion.

Courtney's hand suddenly lifted from the Queen Bee's back as the former C.I.T. turned to frown at the surfer girl, "Didn't Owen take the bridge with the rest of you guys? Where is he?"

A guilty expression overcame the blonde's face, and she bit her lip. "Uhh… well, we kinda… left him behind."

This caused a discontented grumble to issue from the others. Finally, Trent spoke up, "That's kind of harsh, don't you think?"

"Hey man, it's not her fault. We didn't even realize that the big guy had fallen behind until we turned around and he wasn't there. He never said anything," retorted Geoff, coming to the defense of his girlfriend.

Noah rolled his eyes before speaking up, "Maybe that's because he passed out. If I had to guess I'd say heat stroke."

Bridgette gasped before turning to the party boy, "You don't really think he passed out did you? Maybe we should go back and look for him."

"No can do. Owen either has to make it back on his own, or he'll have to wait for Harold to get here," drawled Chris, a smug grin plastered over his features.

"Speakin' of my little sugar baby, where is Harold?" piped up LeShawna.

Duncan smirked and said, "Last I saw that nerd was getting electrocuted, again. Gotta be the twelfth time by now. I almost fell off the wire from laughing so damn hard."

The homegirl glared at the delinquent and made a fist, "Don't make me come over there and whoop some sense into you."

"I'd like to see you try," the teen from juvie retorted, arching part of his monobrow at LeShawna in a disbelieving manner.

"Will he ever learn to stop being such a Neanderthal?" muttered Courtney darkly. Heather sympathized with her friend, and gently gave the Hispanic girl's fingers a squeeze. Despite trying to hide it, the Queen Bee could see that her friend still had feelings for Duncan. Truthfully she couldn't fathom why. After all, that jerk had cheated on her on national television with weird goth girl. Then again, with the way that the former C.I.T. had acted in season two, she could see why Duncan would want to terminate their relationship. Of course, she also didn't understand her own feelings for Alejandro. He was quite attractive, but he was also a manipulative, flirtatious, narcissist. So why had she fallen for the Spaniard?

* * *

About an hour later —much to everyone's surprise_—_ Owen dragged himself onto the platform from the bridge. His shirt was drenched in sweat, and the overweight boy was severely sunburned. Once he pulled himself onto the platform, the teen proceeded to gasp and splutter, before closing his eyes and falling asleep right there.

"Well… in a shocking turn of events, Owen beat Harold to the platform. Which means Dingos, I'll be seeing you at the campfire ceremony tonight. But first," the host paused, turning to Alejandro with a knowing smirk, "who would you like to take on your spa date, _Al_."

The handsome teen's eye twitched at the use of his hated nickname, and he had to grind his teeth before speaking, "There are many lovely _señoritas_ here to choose from, but I should have to say…" Heather cringed, waiting for the word that would inevitably leave the man's lips. She desperately wanted to avoid being alone with him, but she doubted that Chris would allow her to back out. "Courtney."

Wait… what? For a moment everyone was silent, simply staring at each other in confusion. Courtney? The Spaniard had already made it quite clear that he had no romantic interest in the former C.I.T, so why would he want to take her to the spa? Heather and Courtney traded glances, surprise written on both of their faces.

And then it hit the Queen Bee like a ton of bricks. She was _hurt_ that he hadn't called her name. Had he really lost interest in her over the summer? Sure, she betrayed him for the million but… Heather felt her shoulders sag, and she pulled her knees up to her chest. Resting her head on her arms, the Japanese teen made sure that no one could see her face before she let the tears begin to flow. This was what she wanted right? Now she wouldn't have to be alone with the Spaniard. So why did she feel so… lost?

The former C.I.T. tensed up next to her, before replying, "Uhh… no thanks. I'd rather not."

"Like, seriously dude, there isn't _anyone_ _else_ you'd rather take? Like maybe, I don't know, a certain girl you confessed your _love_ for a few months ago," said Chris in disbelief.

Alejandro grinned, "Nope. There is no one that I would rather spend time with than _mi ángel,_ Courtney." His words drove another dagger into Heather's heart, and she had to struggle to repress a hysterical sob.

The Hispanic girl bit her lip and frowned over at Heather, "Like I said, I'd rather not."

"Sorry Courtney, that isn't for you to decide. So, Alejandro, Courtney, you can head over to the Dock of Shame, where a boat will be waiting to take you to your luxury get away," said Chris, his tone still slightly shocked at the manipulative male's choice. "The rest of you can head back to camp. And Dingos, better take this time to decide who you're voting off."

"Shouldn't we wait for Harold?" inquired DJ.

The host cackled before replying, "Nah, he's not out there anymore. I was informed that when he fell off the wire a couple hours ago, he broke his arm when he landed. He's been in the infirmary for the last two hours."

"WHAT?" shouted Eva, glaring at McLean in unbridled rage, "So there was no possible way for us to win this challenge?"

"Nope," retorted the host, smirking at the body builder.

As the rest of the contestants began to file onto the staircase one by one, Alejandro stalked over to Heather and Courtney. With the smugness just dripping from his expression, he looked like the cat that got the cream. Extending an arm to the former C.I.T, the Spaniard purred, "May I offer an escort to _mi chica_."

Courtney glared disdainfully at the male and turned her nose up at him, "No. Just because I am being forced to accompany you doesn't mean I have to pretend to like you." The overachiever turned back to the Japanese girl and muttered, "And I don't speak Spanish."

The Queen Bee shivered at the close proximity of her Latin love, and immediately stood up and strode over to the stairwell. Since most of the campers had already reached the bottom, she was able to speed down the steps. Soon enough, Courtney caught up with her and the two walked together in solitude.

"Heather… you know that I really don't want anything to do with him, right?" the Hispanic girl muttered, concern lacing her tone. "I mean, you're not mad at me, are you?"

The raven haired teen shook her head, though she couldn't quite bring herself to meet Courtney's ebony gaze. No, she was not angry with her friend. For she knew that the overachiever had absolutely nothing to do with what had happened. It was quite apparent that Courtney had her sights set on a certain bad boy, so Heather knew that she had zero interest in the Spaniard. However, despite all reason, the Queen Bee couldn't help the spike of jealousy that had wormed its way into her mind.

Apparently the former C.I.T. was able to see right through her, "Really, I had nothing to do with th-" Before she could complete her statement, a certain Arch-Villain sauntered up next to the Hispanic girl.

"Come now, _mi querida_, soon we will be back at camp. We should walk to the Dock of Shame together. I would like to begin spending as much quality time with you as possible," hummed Alejandro. The Japanese teen cautioned a glance up at the man, and what she saw caused her throat to dry out, and tears began to well up in her eyes. Immediately, she raced ahead of the duo, seeking the sanctity that the cabin would provide.

It was bad enough that Alejandro had been ignoring her as if she was worth no more than a speck of dust. Hell, he had acted as if she wasn't even there! But when she'd caught a peek of his expression… when he'd looked at Courtney, his beautiful emerald eyes were _smoldering_. Heather thought she might have even seen passion flickering in his jade orbs. Biting back a strangled sob, the raven haired beauty practically ripped the Vipers' cabin door off its hinged in her haste to get inside. Slamming the door shut behind her, the Queen Bee stalked over to her bed before collapsing down onto the mattress. Moments later, Heather was weeping hysterically into her pillow.

He truly didn't care for her anymore. Perhaps he never had. His flirting in season three, the confession on the volcano, the kiss… it was all part of his game; his strategy. She was just another one of his useless tools, strung along only as long as he could benefit from her presence. The words from her dream began reverberating throughout her skull, echoing louder and louder with each passing moment.

_No one could ever love a fat, ugly, stupid bitch such as you._

The longer she listened to the statement, the truer it seemed to become. No one would ever love her. She had no friends. All of her previous boyfriends had only sought her for her looks or her parents' wealth. No one on this damned reality show cared a wit about her. Hell, even her own family hated her. Her brother thought she was worthless. Her sister saw her as a fluke. And even her own parents thought her nothing more than a nuisance. They _pitied_ her.

Despite the fact that she knew Alejandro was only using her, Heather couldn't shake off her feelings for him. Long ago she'd been able to deny the growing attraction. But she'd abandoned her denial many months ago. The truth was, she had fallen for the Arch-Villain. The words he'd spoken back on the volcano rang truer than any statement she'd ever made to the contrary. Alejandro had stolen her heart. She loved him. And she hated herself for it. Why couldn't she go back to loathing the Spaniard? Heather desperately wanted to forget about her Latin love, because every time she thought about the male it felt as if her heart was being ripped through her chest. Tears of agony streamed down the Asian teen's pale cheeks. Was this how love was supposed to feel? As if she was being burned alive, frozen to death, and beaten severely all at the same time? Actually, any one of those actions would come as a relief compared to the pain she felt now.

_You deserve what you get._

Her entire frame began trembling violently as the words that haunted her every action swam to the forefront of her mind. Of course she deserved it. Heather's every action had always revolved around either making others miserable, or getting what she wanted. And if she could find a way to ruin the lives of others in the process of getting what she wanted, then so much the better. It was disgusting, the way she'd acted previously. Abhorrent, even.

_Maybe…_ she thought, _maybe I should have just died back on that night…_

Clenching her pale lids tightly closed, Heather snuggled deeper into her pillow. The winners were not required to watch the losers vote someone out, so she chose to remain in the cabin. No dinner. No socializing. Heather would remain alone so that her fears and doubts could eat away at her. After all, she deserved it…

* * *

The sound of a door slamming open caused the Asian girl to jolt upward, gasping at the sudden proximity of her fellow Viper girls. It felt like only moments ago that she'd fallen asleep, though when she peered out of the entrance, it was obvious that night had long since fallen. From the context of the conversation, Heather was probably correct in assuming that they were just returning from the campfire ceremony.

"Yea, I know that he lost them the challenge and he probably won't be good in the rest of the competition with his broken arm and all, but it's still a shame to see my sweetie pie go," said LeShawna, probably in response to a comment made by one of the other two girls.

Beth nodded sympathetically, "Harold can be annoying sometimes, but he's also really nice too."

"Girl, he's probably the sweetest guy on this show," retorted the homegirl, plopping down on her bed.

"I don't know about that, I mean, Geoff is really sweet too. Same with Trent and Owen. I mean, you know, when they aren't being totally egotistical, crazy, or farting all the time," murmured Bridgette.

"Yea, and Harold has his own quirks too," said the black girl, chuckling lightly. "Like how he's always going on and on about his 'mad skills', and the never-ending list of boring facts he's always droning on about. Still, he is a sweet heart, and I do care about him."

Beth giggled, "Seems to me that none of the guys on the show are completely perfect. Even Justin."

"Mm hmm. Justin might be easy on the eyes, but he doesn't have much else goin' for him other than his looks. And heh, well… looks fade with time," retorted LeShawna, grinning impishly.

Surprisingly, even Bridgette joined in on the boy-bashing topic, "And Tyler's a really good guy too, it's just too bad that he's such a klutz."

The dorky teen arched a brow at the surfer chick, "Well, you're one to talk. I mean, no offense Bridge, but you're probably the clumsiest girl on the Island."

This caused the blonde to give a light chuckle, "I know. It's weird, but I think I'm much more graceful in the water." A sudden thought occurred to the vegetarian, and she canted her head at the other Viper girls, "Speaking of which, have either of you ever actually seen me surf? I mean, I never get the chance to on the Island, since we're always so busy. Plus, the waves here kind of suck." Both women shook their heads. "We'll have to go to the beach sometime then. I mean, a _real_ beach. Then I can show you guys some of my 'mad skills'."

The absurdity of Bridgette using Harold's common catch phrase sent all of the girls into a fit of giggles, and it was a few minutes before they could calm down. With a sigh, Heather leaned back onto her pillow and yanked the thin sheets up over her head. The Queen Bee really didn't want to listen to the other girls' incessant chatter. However, her resolve quickly evaporated at the next subject to grace her bunkmates' discussion.

"So… what do you girls think about Alejandro taking Courtney of all people to the spa with him?" murmured Bridgette, her voice so low that Heather had to strain to hear.

The homegirl snorted derisively and shook her head, "That manipulative squid has something up his sleeve, and I for one don't trust him one bit. I just hope that Courtney has enough sense in her not to fall for his dirty tricks a second time."

"It's kinda weird," whispered Beth, "I thought for sure he'd invite Heather to go with him." At the mention of the Asian teen, all three girls quickly darted a glance over at her bed. However, when she appeared to be sound asleep, they continued their ruthless gossip.

"I don't know if you guys noticed, but I think that Heather was pretty bummed about the whole thing. I mean, I didn't get a good look at her once we'd all left the platform, but she never showed up for dinner, let alone the campfire ceremony," muttered Bridgette. Keeping her voice barely above a whisper, the surfer continued, "I think she just came straight to the cabin and never left."

"Hmmph, I'd say it serves her right, but I know what it's like to be played by that two-timing jerk. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, which just so happens to be Heather." The black girl paused a moment to laugh, before saying, "Although, I have noticed that little Miss Priss over there has been actin' kinda odd lately."

"I don't think I've heard her insult a single person at all yet," piped up Beth, her brows furrowing in confusion. "Actually… I don't know if I've heard her say anything at all."

This caused both Bridgette and LeShawna to purse their lips in thought. Eventually, the blonde said, "To tell you the truth, I don't think I have either."

"Yea, but just because none of us have heard her say anything doesn't mean she hasn't. I'm sure she talks with Courtney all the time, since the two of them are so buddy-buddy lately. It's probably just a new strategy of hers," reasoned the home girl. After a moment, the other two agreed, although Bridgette was a bit more reluctant than Beth about it.

By this point, Heather had a waterfall of tears running down her cheeks, and she was feeling downright horrible. Fortunately —or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it— Heather had mastered silent crying over the last few months, so none of the other girls ever noticed her plight. Though sometimes she still struggled with keeping her breathing regular.

Originally, the Queen Bee had planned on giving the other girls new sets of earplugs. But after their cruel and heart-wrenching words, Heather felt that they could deal with one night of her terrified screams. At the moment, she wouldn't care if the entire world was burning. She might even welcome it, since the pain of others might help to ease her own intense suffering. Eventually, the Asian girl gently began to drift into unconsciousness, with the prospect of an evening full of nightmares waiting to greet her as she delved deeper into her subconscious.

* * *

**Ugh. I hated writing this chapter. I actually had to rewrite half of it once, because my darn Word Document didn't save properly. ;_; So I am now going to present you with this piece of crap, since I am sick of writing this chapter.**

**Man do I have a lot to talk about. Firstly, do you guys think this chapter is too boring? I mean, for me the beginning just seemed to drone on and on. And when they finally get to the challenge, it is totally anticlimactic. Trust me, the challenge sounded way cooler in my head. Ah well.**

**Also, does Heather's friendship with Courtney seem a little rushed to you? I think it might be, but at the same time I think it works. I always thought that due to their similarities, Heather and Courtney would make really good friends. It was just the million dollars and Heather's evilness that was standing in the way. But in this story, since Heather is neither a bitch nor after the million, I think they would click pretty fast. At the same time though… it feels rushed.**

**When I originally wrote this chapter, I had included a touching moment between LeShawna and Heather. However I quickly scrapped that idea, since one new friend in a chapter is quite enough. xD Besides, I really do enjoy the rivals dynamic between the two girls that the show gives us, and I'd like to expand on that a bit before doing away with it completely. Oh… and that's probably a spoiler alert for a future chapter. ;)**

**Let's see, what else did I hate about this chapter… OH! Okay, so like, what the hell is wrong with Alejandro. I mean Courtney, seriously?! Ugh. That arrogant jerk just really manages to piss me off sometimes, and I'm the one writing him! Hopefully I've left you with a couple questions regarding his actions. I should be able to address most of them in the next chapter.**

**By the way, what did you think of Damien's letter? I'm not sure if I want to include one of these every chapter or every few chapters, so feedback on this would be nice. Also, would you like it if Heather wrote responses to her brother? I have a few ideas in my head for what would happen if she does, but any thoughts on the matter would be very much appreciated.**

**Oh, and in case you're wondering about the title, it comes from an idiom I found online. To be in pole position means: to be in the best position to win a competition. Seems kind of fitting, right?**

**Also, I have officially (for now) decided that I am going to begin each chapter with either a dream/nightmare or a flashback. It seems like a cool idea to me, but we'll see how it goes.**

**And look, another long chapter! Hopefully it's long in a good way, and I didn't bore you to tears with it. I'm thinking about rewriting it eventually, since I hate it so much, but we'll see.**

**And for anyone that is curious since I didn't expand on it much: Alejandro arrived at the platform first because he used the trapeze bars. I think a guy that can run on his hands is probably coordinated enough to pull off some awesome acrobatics.**

**Once more I ask, did everyone seem in character? Excluding the Queen Bee of course. I feel a little bad for Harold, since I kicked him off the show and gave him hardly any screen time this episode. I just… gah. I like his character sometimes, like when he's being chivalrous to one of the ladies or fawning over LeShawna, but most of the time I can't stand him. And it's hard to write for characters that I don't care for. I mean, even Ezekiel is better, and he's a misogynist pig.**

**Blech, okay, rant over. As always, thanks for taking the time to read, and I hope you'll take the time to review. Not to belittle any of my current reviewers, (as I really do appreciate the awesome comments guys!) but I was really hoping to get ten reviews last chapter. Hearing encouragement, or critiques, or even flames helps me stay motivated through writing the next chapters.**

**Anywho, thanks again guys! I'll try to have the next chapter up soon, so keep a lookout for it.**


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